Embedded suppliers around aerospace
In the past, the aerospace industry wanted MIL-SPEC equipment, a catch-all term that means something fulfills a military standard or specification. However, with many semiconductor vendors having pulled out of this market and project budgets being squeezed, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions are increasingly used. For example, while AFDX/ARINC 664 was designed for aerospace, it is based upon the well-known Ethernet protocol and can use COTS components.
Software is another area, with some suppliers specializing in taking COTS software stacks and removing unneeded and dead code. This reengineering process and subsequent testing allow it to be certified for use in aerospace projects.
Many of the real-time operating systems (RTOS) that meet the aerospace industry’s stringent safety certification requirements have a non-avionics equivalent from the same vendor. Then there are the tool vendors providing compilers, debuggers, and software testing environments. These, too, undertake additional certification of their products and tools to meet the demands of aerospace development teams.
Slow innovation
While aircraft are a thing of wonder, the pace of innovation is slow. A decade or more can pass from conception to launch, while the aircraft itself can be in production for twenty years or more. As a result, the opportunity to work at the cutting edge of aerospace may only arise twice in your career. But, if you can live with that, the capabilities demonstrated in both commercial and military aerospace show incredible feats of engineering skill.
And it is embedded systems and software combined with a culture of safety that keep these flying machines safe, tens of thousands of take-offs a day. This industry proves that software can keep us safe and that our lives can be entrusted to embedded systems.
