Usage of databases in ARINC 653-compatible real-time systems

Abstract: The Integrated Modular Avionics architecture , IMA, provides means for runningmultiple safety-critical applications on the same hardware. ARINC 653 is aspecification for this kind of architecture. It is a specification for space and timepartition in safety-critical real-time operating systems to ensure each application’sintegrity. This Master thesis describes how databases can be implementedand used in an ARINC 653 system. The addressed issues are interpartitioncommunication, deadlocks and database storage. Two alternative embeddeddatabases are integrated in an IMA system to be accessed from multiple clientsfrom different partitions. Performance benchmarking was used to study the differencesin terms of throughput, number of simultaneous clients, and scheduling.Databases implemented and benchmarked are SQLite and Raima. The studiesindicated a clear speed advantage in favor of SQLite, when Raima was integratedusing the ODBC interface. Both databases perform quite well and seem to begood enough for usage in embedded systems. However, since neither SQLiteor Raima have any real-time support, their usage in safety-critical systems arelimited. The testing was performed in a simulated environment which makesthe results somewhat unreliable. To validate the benchmark results, furtherstudies must be performed, preferably in a real target environment.The Integrated Modular Avionics architecture , IMA, provides means for runningmultiple safety-critical applications on the same hardware. ARINC 653 is aspecification for this kind of architecture. It is a specification for space and timepartition in safety-critical real-time operating systems to ensure each application’sintegrity. This Master thesis describes how databases can be implementedand used in an ARINC 653 system. The addressed issues are interpartitioncommunication, deadlocks and database storage. Two alternative embeddeddatabases are integrated in an IMA system to be accessed from multiple clientsfrom different partitions. Performance benchmarking was used to study the differencesin terms of throughput, number of simultaneous clients, and scheduling.Databases implemented and benchmarked are SQLite and Raima. The studiesindicated a clear speed advantage in favor of SQLite, when Raima was integratedusing the ODBC interface. Both databases perform quite well and seem to begood enough for usage in embedded systems. However, since neither SQLiteor Raima have any real-time support, their usage in safety-critical systems arelimited. The testing was performed in a simulated environment which makesthe results somewhat unreliable. To validate the benchmark results, furtherstudies must be performed, preferably in a real target environment.