A method for agile software upgrade during operation of aviation embedded equipment

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for agile software upgrade during the operation of an aviation embedded device, comprising: (1) establishing three flags in the application software: a startup flag, a last correct flag, and a last state correct flag; (2) modifying the startup flag according to the newly received application software during the operation of the embedded device application; (3) the embedded device starts loading the upgraded application according to the current startup flag; (4) if the loaded upgraded application runs correctly, the last correct flag is updated to the last state correct flag, and the startup flag is updated to the last correct flag. This method enables the avionics equipment to have the ability to upgrade software during application operation and the ability to automatically and directly execute the designed software after the application is upgraded, and can automatically roll back to the last state software when the upgraded software is abnormal, and also provides the user with the ability to manually choose to run the original state software or the upgraded software.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of airborne embedded computers, and in particular to a method for agile software upgrade during the operation of an aviation embedded device. Background Art

[0002] Currently, aircraft avionics maintenance and upgrades are primarily performed on the ground, with no agile upgrade capability available while the aircraft is in the air. These upgrades are subject to a series of constraints, including time constraints and location restrictions. This makes it difficult to perform in-flight upgrades, significantly reducing the aircraft's flexibility and scalability. Furthermore, when software issues are discovered in-flight, immediate corrections and verification cannot be performed in the air; maintenance and upgrades must wait until the aircraft lands, significantly increasing maintenance and verification costs. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for agile software upgrade during the operation of an aviation embedded device. This method enables the avionics equipment to have the ability to upgrade software during application operation and the ability to automatically and directly execute the designed software after the application is upgraded, without being affected by time, location and other limiting factors. In addition, when a software problem of the avionics equipment is discovered during the flight of the aircraft, the software can be immediately corrected and verified in the air, and the upgraded software can be automatically rolled back to the previous state software if an abnormality occurs. The user is also provided with the ability to manually choose to run the original state software or the upgraded software, thereby improving the flexibility and scalability of the aircraft.

[0004] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

[0005] A method for agile software upgrade during operation of an aviation embedded device, the method comprising the following steps:

[0006] (1) Establish three flags in the application software: the startup flag, the last correct flag, and the last state correct flag;

[0007] (2) modifying the startup flag according to the newly received application software during the operation of the embedded device application;

[0008] (3) The embedded device starts loading the upgraded application according to the current startup flag;

[0009] (4) If the loaded upgraded application runs correctly, the last correct flag is updated to the last state correct flag, and the startup flag is updated to the last correct flag.

[0010] Furthermore, the method further includes step (5), wherein if the loaded upgraded application cannot run correctly, attempts are made to start the loaded upgraded application multiple times, and if the number of consecutive incorrect runs of the application is less than a preset number, step (4) is executed; if the number of consecutive incorrect runs of the application is greater than or equal to the preset number, the loaded upgraded application fails to start, the last correct flag is updated to the start flag, and the application is loaded according to the current start flag.

[0011] Furthermore, step (2) also includes: determining whether all new application software has been received; if not, repeating step (2); if all application software has been received, proceeding to step (3).

[0012] Furthermore, the startup flag is a flag of the currently started application of the embedded device.

[0013] Furthermore, the last correct flag is a startup flag when the embedded device can correctly start the application for the last time.

[0014] Furthermore, the previous state correct flag is a startup flag when the embedded device can correctly start the application for the second to last time.

[0015] Furthermore, the method further includes manually updating the previous state correct flag to the start flag and re-executing step (2).

[0016] The method for agile software upgrade during operation of an aviation embedded device of the present invention is a method for agilely upgrading application software during operation during flight of an aircraft. The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0017] 1. The present invention has the ability to upgrade software during application operation.

[0018] 2. The present invention has the ability to automatically and directly execute the upgraded software after upgrading.

[0019] 3. The present invention has the ability to automatically roll back the software to the previous state if a software anomaly occurs after the upgrade.

[0020] 4. The present invention has the ability to manually select to run the original software or the upgraded software. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0022] Figure 1 This is a flow chart of the method for agile upgrading of airborne equipment software according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0024] The following describes the embodiments of the present disclosure through specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present disclosure from the contents disclosed in this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all of the embodiments. The present disclosure can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and the details in this specification can also be modified or changed in various ways based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the following embodiments and features in the embodiments can be combined with each other. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative work are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0025] It should be noted that various aspects of the embodiments within the scope of the appended claims are described below. It should be apparent that the aspects described herein can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and any specific structure and / or function described herein is merely illustrative. Based on this disclosure, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that an aspect described herein can be implemented independently of any other aspect, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in various ways. For example, any number of aspects described herein can be used to implement an apparatus and / or practice a method. In addition, other structures and / or functionalities other than one or more of the aspects described herein can be used to implement this apparatus and / or practice this method.

[0026] It should also be noted that the illustrations provided in the following embodiments are only schematic illustrations of the basic concept of the present disclosure. The illustrations only show components related to the present disclosure and are not drawn according to the number, shape and size of components in actual implementation. In actual implementation, the type, quantity and proportion of each component can be changed at will, and the component layout type may also be more complicated.

[0027] Additionally, in the following description, specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the examples. However, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the aspects described may be practiced without these specific details.

[0028] The present disclosure provides a method for agile software upgrade during operation of an aviation embedded device, the method comprising the following steps:

[0029] (1) Three flags are established in the application software: a startup flag, a last correct flag, and a last correct flag. The startup flag is the flag for the embedded device to start the application currently; the last correct flag is the startup flag when the embedded device can start the application correctly for the last time; and the last correct flag is the startup flag when the embedded device can start the application correctly for the second to last time.

[0030] (2) modifying the startup flag according to the newly received application software during the operation of the embedded device application;

[0031] Determine whether all new application software has been received; if not, repeat step (2); if all application software has been received, proceed to step (3).

[0032] (3) The embedded device starts loading the upgraded application according to the current startup flag;

[0033] (4) If the loaded upgraded application runs correctly, the last correct flag is updated to the last state correct flag, and the startup flag is updated to the last correct flag.

[0034] (5) If the loaded upgraded application cannot run correctly, try to start the loaded upgraded application multiple times. If the number of consecutive incorrect runs of the application is less than the preset number, execute step (4); if the number of consecutive incorrect runs of the application is greater than or equal to the preset number, the loaded upgraded application fails to start, the last correct flag is updated to the start flag, and the application is loaded according to the current start flag.

[0035] In another embodiment of the present invention, the previous status correct flag can be manually updated to the start flag, and step (2) can be executed again.

[0036] The present invention is further described by taking a certain avionics device as an example. The avionics device includes 16 applications. Figure 1 The method for agile software upgrade during operation of the aviation embedded device of this embodiment is as follows:

[0037] Step 1. Create three flags in the application software: the startup flag, the last correct flag, and the last state correct flag. Each flag is represented by a 16-bit word, where each bit is related to the startup area of ​​each application. Assume that in a certain state, the startup flag and the last correct flag are both 0x643c, and the last state correct flag is 0x581c. Observe that the startup flag and the last correct flag of bit 13 are both 0, and the last state correct flag is 1, indicating that the application is started from area 0 this time, and the application in the previous state is in area 1. The application can be manually restored to run in area 1.

[0038] Step 2: Assume that the application receives an upgrade request from application 13 during operation. After receiving application 13, the startup flag bit 13 is changed from 0 to 1. At this time, the startup flag is 0x743c, the last correct flag is 0x643c, and the last state correct flag is 0x581c.

[0039] Step 3: If the upgrade is not complete, continue to update the startup flag according to step 2, otherwise proceed to step 4.

[0040] Step 4: Restart the application. The application runs according to the startup flag 0x743c. At this time, the running application 13 is the application 13 in area 1, that is, the application 13 that has just been upgraded. The application 13 that was running correctly before is still in area 0.

[0041] Step 5: If the newly-run application meets the system requirements, the last status correct flag is updated to 0x643c and the last correct flag is updated to 0x743c. If the application cannot run correctly, proceed to step 6.

[0042] Step 6: If the new application fails to run after multiple attempts, it indicates that the application 13 in area 1 is running incorrectly. Then, the startup flag is updated to 0x643c, the previous state correct flag is updated to 0x643c, and the system is restarted. Since the program in the startup flag is the correct version that has been running before and has never been changed, the system can be guaranteed to run correctly.

[0043] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, but the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this disclosure should be included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for agile software upgrade during operation of an aviation embedded device, characterized by: The method comprises the following steps: (1) Establish three flags in the application software: a startup flag, a last correct flag, and a last correct flag; wherein the startup flag is the flag of the embedded device currently starting the application; the last correct flag is the startup flag when the embedded device can correctly start the application for the last time; and the last correct flag is the startup flag when the embedded device can correctly start the application for the second to last time; (2) modifying the startup flag according to the newly received application software during the operation of the embedded device application; (3) The embedded device starts loading the upgraded application according to the current startup flag; (4) If the loaded upgraded application runs correctly, the last correct flag is updated to the previous state correct flag, and the startup flag is updated to the last correct flag; The method further includes step (5), if the loaded upgraded application fails to run correctly, attempting to start the loaded upgraded application multiple times, and if the number of consecutive erroneous runs of the application is less than a preset number, executing step (4); if the number of consecutive erroneous runs of the application is greater than or equal to the preset number, the loaded upgraded application fails to start, the last correct flag is updated to the start flag, and the application is loaded according to the current start flag; Step (2) also includes: determining whether all new application software has been received; if not, repeating step (2); if all application software has been received, proceeding to step (3).

2. The method for agile software upgrade during operation of an aviation embedded device according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes manually updating the previous state correct flag to the start flag and re-executing step (2).

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