Conference article

An assurance strategy for new computing platforms in safety-critical avionics has to be flexible and take into account different types of commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) hardware technologies. Completely new COTS technologies are today in a high pace being successfully introduced and used in other domains. Heterogeneous platforms, hardware-based machine learning and approximate computing are good examples. Current certification guidance material is not mature enough for next generation of devices. We suggest using the generic assurance approach of the Overarching Properties (OPs) together with assurance cases to argument that COTS assurance objectives are met and to achieve the flexibility required for future computing platforms.In previous research, we introduced an assurance case-based OP approach. We later refined our work into a framework. Within this framework we are able to integrate COTS technology specific assurance objectives using a five-step process. We also showed how these objectives can be demonstrated in a coherent way. In this paper, we show through some representative examples of emerging computing platforms that our strategy may be a way forward for new platforms insafety-critical avionics.

safety-critical avionics, assurance strategy, assurance case, COTS assurance, overarching properties, computing platforms