Database management: the heart of integrated avionics

Avionics have grown in complexity and importance to the point where it accounts for a substantial the total cost of a combat aircraft. In an effort to reduce this figure, while continuing to increase performance and reliability, air forces and industry are increasingly turning to integrated avionics. Wright Laboratory´s Functionally Integrated Resource Manager (FIRM) program is attacking the heart of this process with an integrated database management system. FIRM provides real-time, secure data services for the integrated avionics systems of future Air Force fighter aircraft, eliminating costly duplication of data and data access software, while providing a smooth integration path for future software and hardware upgrades. The key aspect of this system is its residence within and control of data within the integrated architecture. The advantages are faster turn-around time for data updates (i.e., threats, targets), reduced software development costs, and lower software life cycle costs. Wright Laboratory and its two prime contractors adopted an object-oriented approach to defining and analyzing requirements and providing a development strategy for FIRM. The authors report on the first two phases of the FIRM program: the requirements phase and the functional design phase