ARINC 667-1

This document provides guidance to users of ACS for thedevelopment of methods to control and manage ACS. Ideals containedwithin this document were developed from past experience and futureexpectations based on the business situations and maintenanceactions of contributing aircraft manufacturers, airlines, OriginalEquipment Manufacturers (OEM), vendors, and software suppliers.

Airlines today find it cumbersome to match multiple softwareloading situations with multiple aircraft loading configurations.As aircraft and their components become more reliant upon softwareto operate, it is imperative that actions must be taken to maintaincontrol and management of aircraft software. Different OEMinstallations, multiple vendor/supplier interfacing units, andvarying operator requirements for data upload and retrieval haveproven to be difficult integrations of the in-field softwarecontrol. In the past, these short comings have caused discomposingsituations. It is the clear intention of this document to provide ameans to discourage such situations from being repeated. While thisdocument is intended to provide guidance regarding methods ofcontrolling and managing aircraft software configuration, it isrecognized that many airlines have implemented different methods,reflecting their specific fleet composition and diverseinfrastructure. The intention of this document is to offer guidanceon how software may be managed and controlled.

Although the need for software validation after loading ACS isdiscussed in this document, the detailed procedures are not.Placing exacting procedures in this document will hinder ingenuityand business related decisions to further the industry. Certainsubjects were specifically excluded from this document due topossible conflict or confusion between other standards. Theseaspects are described in related documents identified in Section1.9. Figure 1-1 describes the overall ACS environment and shows therelationship of applicable documents.

Purpose and Goal

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance for thein-service management of Loadable Airborne Software. The types ofAirborne Software are defined in Chapter 2. This document isintended to be broad and apply to all Aircraft Controlled Software(ACS). The key features of aircraft controlled software are asfollows:

a. Usually capable of software load on-aircraft. Also covershardware controlled software to some extent.

b. Part number is electronically verifiable on-aircraft.

c. Does not change target hardware part number.

d. The software has its own unique identification number.

e. The software part may be a type-certified aircraft part.

f. The software may be an application.

g. The software may be a database.

h. The software may be a document or list.

Edition:

10

Published:

11/12/2010

Number of Pages:

120

File Size:

1 file , 1.1 MB