SEATTLE, 22 June 2007. Korry Electronics, a Tier 1 supplier for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and AVISTA Incorporated, provider of critical systems software engineering services, have delivered the flight deck control panels (FDCP) embedded software for the Boeing 787.
A key goal for this new aircraft is reducing weight by replacing the traditional hardwired FDCP with embedded and hosted application software. To achieve this, Korry turned to Avista for its DO-178B certified avionics software expertise, and experience with the common computing system (CCS) software platform that is the core of the aircraft's avionics systems.
Korry's FDCP system contains control panels located in three major areas of the flight deck: the overhead panel, the aisle stand, and the forward panel. The FDCP reports the status of each flight deck switch to aircraft systems and receives system status to illuminate annunciators on the control panels.
Working with both Korry and Boeing, Avista was responsible for requirements definition, software planning, design, implementation, and integration, as well as all requirements-based testing for DO-178B Level B.
"The growing use of software provides tremendous design advantages for aircraft manufacturers, but demands specific expertise in software development and DO-178B documentation and testing," says Cyndi Bajema, project manager at Korry Electronics.
The FDCP software was designed for the CCS platform being used for the 787. The CCS provides shared system platform resources for a number of functional systems such as avionics, environmental control, electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, auxiliary power unit, cabin services, flight controls, health management, fuel, payloads, and propulsion.
Avista has extensive experience with the 787 CCS partitioned architecture from work on previous aircraft using a similar system, and the company brought this expertise to the Korry FDCP project.
