Integrated modular avionics (IMA) are real-time computer network airborne systems. This network consists of a number of computing modules capable of supporting numerous applications of differing criticality levels. In opposition to traditional federated architectures, the IMA concept proposes an integrated architecture with application software portable across an assembly of common hardware modules. An IMA architecture imposes multiple requirements on the underlying

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

History

It is believed that the IMA concept originated with the avionics design of the fourth-generation jet fighters. It has been in use in fighters such as

F-22 The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As the result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, t ...

and

F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...

, or

Dassault Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French Twinjet, twin-engine, Canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft designed and ...

since the beginning of the '90s. Standardization efforts were ongoing at this time (see ASAAC or

STANAG 4626 ''STANAG 4626'' is a NATO Standardization Agreement which defines a set of Open Architecture Standards for Avionics Architecture, particularly in the field of Integrated Modular Avionics. The purpose of this standard is to establish uniform require ...

), but no final documents were issued then.

Architecture

IMA modularity simplifies the development process of avionics software: * As the structure of the modules network is unified, it is mandatory to use a common API to access the hardware and network resources, thus simplifying the hardware and software integration. * IMA concept also allows the

Application Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

developers to focus on the

Application layer An application layer is an abstraction layer that specifies the shared communications protocols and interface methods used by hosts in a communications network. An ''application layer'' abstraction is specified in both the Internet Protocol ...

, reducing the risk of faults in the lower-level software layers. * As modules often share an extensive part of their hardware and lower-level software architecture, maintenance of the modules is easier than with previous specific architectures. *

s can be reconfigured on spare modules if the primary module that supports them is detected faulty during operations, increasing the overall availability of the avionics functions. Communication between the modules can use an internal high speed

Computer bus In computer architecture, a bus (shortened form of the Latin ''omnibus'', and historically also called data highway or databus) is a communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers. This ex ...

, or can share an external network, such as

ARINC 429 ARINC 429, "Mark33 Digital Information Transfer System (DITS)," is also known as the Aeronautical Radio INC. (ARINC) technical standard for the predominant avionics data bus used on most higher-end commercial and transport aircraft. It defines the ...

or ARINC 664 (part 7). However, much complexity is added to the systems, which thus require novel design and verification approaches since applications with different criticality levels share hardware and software resources such as CPU and network schedules, memory, inputs and outputs. Partitioning is generally used in order to help segregate

mixed criticality A mixed criticality system is a system containing computer hardware and software that can execute several applications of different criticality, such as safety-critical and non-safety critical, or of different Safety Integrity Level Safety integr ...

applications and thus ease the verification process. ARINC 650 and ARINC 651 provide general purpose hardware and software standards used in an IMA architecture. However, parts of the API involved in an IMA network has been standardized, such as: *

ARINC 653 ARINC 653 (Avionics Application Software Standard Interface) is a software specification for space and time partitioning in safety-critical avionics real-time operating systems (RTOS). It allows the hosting of multiple applications of different ...

for the software avionics partitioning constraints to the underlying Real-time operating system (RTOS), and the associated API

Certification considerations

RTCA

DO-178C DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification is the primary document by which the certification authorities such as FAA, EASA and Transport Canada approve all commercial software-based aerospace systems. The ...

and RTCA DO-254 form the basis for flight certification today, while DO-297 gives specific guidance for Integrated modular avionics.

contributes by providing a framework that enables each software building block (called a partition) of the overall Integrated modular avionics to be tested, validated, and qualified independently (up to a certain measure) by its supplier. The FAA CAST-32A position paper provides information (not official guidance) for certification of multicore systems, but does not specifically address IMA with multicore. A research paper by VanderLeest and Matthews addresses implementation of IMA principles for multicore"

Examples of IMA architecture

Examples of aircraft avionics that uses IMA architecture: *

Airbus A220 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was ...

Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio C ...

Pro Line Fusion *

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 ...

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

Airbus A400M The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) as a tactical airlifter with strategic capa ...

ATR 42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now Airbus) a ...

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture forme ...

BAE Hawk The BAE Systems Hawk is a British single-engine, jet-powered advanced trainer aircraft. It was first flown at Dunsfold, Surrey, in 1974 as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk, and subsequently produced by its successor companies, British Aerospace and ...

( Hawk 128 AJT) *

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap b ...

: includes

AIMS AIMS or Aims may refer to: Education * Acharya Institute of Management and Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India * Adventist International Mission School, Muak Lek, Thailand * African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cape Town, South Afric ...

avionics from

Honeywell Aerospace Honeywell Aerospace is a manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell International conglome ...

Boeing 777X The Boeing 777X is the latest series of the long-range, wide-body, twin-engine jetliners in the Boeing 777 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777X features new GE9X engines, new composite wings with folding wingtips, greater c ...

: will include the Common Core System from GE Aviation *

Boeing 787 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

: GE Aviation Systems (formerly Smiths Aerospace) IMA architecture is called ''Common Core System'' * Bombardier Global 5000 / 6000 :

Pro Line Fusion * COMAC C919 *

Dassault Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, and led by son ...

Falcon 900, Falcon 2000, and Falcon 7X :

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

's IMA architecture is called ''MAU'' (Modular Avionics Units), and the overall platform is called EASy *

F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As the result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, t ...

Gulfstream G280 The Gulfstream G280 is a twin-engine business jet built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for Gulfstream Aerospace. It began delivery to users in 2012. Development In 2005, Gulfstream and IAI began designing a follow-on aircraft to the Gulf ...

Pro Line Fusion * Gulfstream G400, G500, G600, G700, G800, Data Concentration Network (DCN) * Rafale :

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard ...

IMA architecture is called ''MDPU'' (Modular Data Processing Unit) *

Sukhoi Superjet 100 The Sukhoi Superjet 100 () or SSJ100 is a regional jet designed by Russian aircraft company Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, a division of the United Aircraft Corporation (now: Regional Aircraft – Branch of the Irkut Corporation). With development starti ...

References

IMA Publications & Whitepapers

"Transitioning from Federated Avionics Architectures to Integrated Modular Avionics"
Christopher B. Watkins, Randy Walter, 26th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Dallas, Texas, October 2007.
"Advancing Open Standards in Integrated Modular Avionics: An Industry Analysis"
Justin Littlefield-Lawwill, Ramanathan Viswanathan, 26th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Dallas, Texas, October 2007.
"Application of a Civil Integrated Modular Architecture to Military Transport Aircraft"
R. Ramaker, W. Krug, W. Phebus, 26th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Dallas, Texas, October 2007.
"Integrating Modular Avionics: A New Role Emerges"
Richard Garside, Joe F. Pighetti, 26th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Dallas, Texas, October 2007.
"Integrated Modular Avionics: Managing the Allocation of Shared Intersystem Resources"
Christopher B. Watkins, 25th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Portland, Oregon, October 2006.
"Modular Verification: Testing a Subset of Integrated Modular Avionics in Isolation"
Christopher B. Watkins, 25th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Portland, Oregon, October 2006.
"Certification Concerns with Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) Projects"
J. Lewis, L. Rierson, 22nd Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), October 2003.