The Current Challenges With Using Linux On Airplanes

Currently most avionics real-time operating systems for airplanes are proprietary and very specialized for safety assurance reasons. Using Linux though and other open-source software would ease development, open more developers to being able to work on said avionics platforms, have much better documentation, and lower other barriers, but there are challenges currently involved.

At this week's Linux Foundation Embedded Open-Source Summit in Prague there was a virtual debate over using Linux in aerospace applications. Peter Brick of UL and Steven VanderLeest of Boeing talked about those challenges for Linux/open-source software. VaanderLeest is the Chief Technologist for the Boeing Linux initiative at Boeing.

Ultimately the challenges come down to Linux lacking the necessary certifications that specialized avionics-focused proprietary RTOS solutions can provide, Linux not being designed exclusively with security and safety-assurance guarantees, the monolithic kernel design is a challenge, and the development culture is also critiqued.

There unfortunately isn't the video presentation in full publicly available yet but for those wanting some interesting weekend reading, there is the PDF slide deck.