Design space exploration for safe and optimal mapping of avionics functionality on IMA platforms

Future avionic systems will be increasingly automated. The size and complexity of the avionics functions in these systems will increase likewise. The degree of attainable automation directly depends on the avionics system's computing power and the efficiency of available tools that map the overall functionality onto the target heterogeneous platform architecture. In safety-critical scenarios, these automation tools must also provide safety guarantees that aid or drive the certification processes. In line with this automation goal, We propose a novel design space exploration technique for the mapping functionality on IMA platforms. The design space exploration technique returns mappings of the functionality onto the platform that are safe and increasingly resource-efficient. A safe mapping is one where the functional and extra-functional requirements are met. A resource-efficient mapping is one where fewer processing elements are used to achieve a safe mapping. More importantly, the proposed technique can return computational proof that no safe mapping is likely possible. This proof is key for safety-critical contexts. To demonstrate the suitability of our technique for avionics systems design scenarios, we investigate its use with an industrial avionics case based on the ones from the PANORAMA ITEA3 project. The case study includes two avionics functionalities, one control functionality, and one streaming-like functionality. The platform is hierarchical and heterogeneous, with elements oriented for higher safety and elements oriented for higher performance. The avionics case-study evaluation shows that our novel design space exploration technique's abstractions and assumptions adequately represent avionics design scenarios directly or through a systematic overestimation. The technique is openly available within the design space exploration tool IDeSyDe. Therefore, designers can immediately benefit from the optimality and safety guarantees given by our novel design space exploration technique in their avionics design process.