Adapting Software Product Lines for complex certifiable avionics software

In avionics, the size and complexity of software-intensive systems increased considerably during recent years. Besides the size and the complexity, certification constraints also had negative impact on the cost and schedule of avionics software projects. Model-Driven Development (MDD) and Software Product Lines Engineering (SPLE) offer an opportunity to improve the avionics software development process, reduce the cost and improve the time to market. Complexity of avionics software and certification constraints pose several challenges to SPLE adoption. Software Product Lines (SPL) framework must provide bi-directional traceability between requirements and low level software assets (e.g. code and test), facilitate production of certification deliverables, allow validation on the target platform and provide code coverage. Also, SPL offer a scheme to manage the complexity of avionics software systems through variability management tools.