Toolchain Streamlines Development of Digital Interfaces for Aerospace Systems

The rapid growth of the drone industry presents significant challenges for both new companies and established aerospace firms, particularly in the complex task of integrating onboard systems. Viktor Sinitsyn, Nils Schlautmann, and Florian Holzapfel, from the Institute of Flight System Dynamics at the Technical University of Munich, and their colleagues, demonstrate a new approach to developing the essential software that manages communication between a drone’s various components. Their work addresses the need for efficient and reliable data exchange within unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), moving beyond traditional, labour-intensive methods. By introducing an automated toolchain – from unified data collection to code generation – this research significantly streamlines the development process, promising faster innovation and improved system integration for a rapidly evolving industry.

Streamlining Airborne Software Development with Automated Processes

The aerospace industry, particularly the rapidly expanding field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), faces significant challenges in developing complex onboard software systems. Like established aerospace companies, UAV developers must manage increasing system complexity, adhere to stringent safety requirements, ensure process transparency, and maintain design verifiability – all while often operating with limited resources. To address these issues, researchers have developed a novel process and accompanying toolchain focused on maximizing automation and reusability across multiple projects, with a clear pathway towards full compliance with rigorous design assurance standards. This work centres on a structured method for modelling data-message flows in Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architectures. The team’s approach utilizes a layered Interface Control Document (ICD) database, enabling transformation between logical, transport, and physical layers. This reflects a growing recognition of ICD data as a central artifact in both model-based development and downstream automation, allowing for automated code generation and platform configuration. Several existing toolchains, often built upon software like Simulink and Embedded Coder, demonstrate the viability of model-based design and code generation for airborne software, particularly when integrated with tools supporting verification and traceability. The team’s solution builds upon these advancements by integrating various tools and techniques into a cohesive workflow. This emphasizes a transparent and verifiable process that can be incrementally upgraded to meet full design assurance compliance without major rework.

A key aspect is the development of a web-enabled ICD configuration framework incorporating domain-specific query languages and a flexible tool integration model for platform-level modelling and export. Other initiatives focus on bridging architectural and platform-specific data, and connecting domain-specific tools through data transformation pipelines, supporting highly automated avionics development. The researchers have successfully developed, implemented, and refined a process that prioritizes efficiency, transparency, and verifiability. Efficiency is achieved by automating repetitive, error-prone activities and emphasizing artifact reuse. Transparency is ensured through explicitly defined artifacts and clear relationships between process steps, while verifiability is maintained through careful selection of tools and methods aligned with established standards. This process also offers scalability, with clear, repeatable guidelines readily adopted for new projects.

Furthermore, the toolchain extends beyond software development itself. Once the detailed architecture is refined through the ICD database, architecture artifacts can be automatically updated. Verification activities, such as Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulations, benefit from the machine-readable ICD-based approach, streamlining I/O channel configuration and automated development of HIL rig Electrical Wiring Interconnection Systems (EWIS). Aircraft EWIS development can even be automated, deriving artifacts directly from the ICD database, further improving integration efficiency. Future work will focus on formalizing process details into comprehensive plans, advancing prototype tools towards formal qualification, and enhancing connectivity between the process and safety assurance processes. This includes enabling automated extraction of structured data from design artifacts for use in safety assessment tools like fault tree analysis, improving traceability and reducing manual effort. These advancements represent a significant step towards streamlining airborne software development, reducing costs, and improving the safety and reliability of future aerial vehicles.