Distributed avionics system and method for backup handling in an avionics system

A distributed avionics system (100, 500) having a plurality of computer nodes configured to execute a plurality of partitions/applications (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6), said distributed avionics system comprising reconfiguration means (332) configured to reconfigure the distributed avionics system upon detection of failure in at least one of the computer nodes, wherein:

• each of the partition/applications (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6) is associated to an application/partition availability level;
• the reconfiguration means are configured to reconfigure the distributed avionics system based on the partition/application availability levels of each of the partition/applications (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6);
• each computer node is assigned to at least one unique role and each role comprises a subset of the partitions/applications (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6);
• each role is associated to a role availability level defining a maximum allowable partition/application availability level to be executed in that role, the maximum allowable partition/application availability level indicating a criticality of the role;
• and
• the reconfiguration means are configured to assign the subset of partitions/applications of the role associated to the computer node in which failure has been detected to one computer node presently associated to the role having the lowest availability level.

A method for back-up handling in a distributed avionics system having a plurality of computer nodes (A, B, C), said method comprising the following steps:

• providing a set of partitions/applications (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6) to be executed by the distributed avionics system;
• assigning a partition/application availability level to each partition/application (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6);
• assigning each computer node (A, B, C) to at least one unique role, wherein each role comprises a subset of the partitions/applications (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6) and associating each role to a role availability level defining a maximum allowable partition/application availability level to be executed in that role, the maximum allowable partition/application availability level indicating a criticality of the role;
• assigning a separate subset of the partitions/applications for execution by each node based on the partition/application availability levels;
• monitoring operation of the computer nodes (A, B, C) so as to detect at least one fault condition in one of the computer nodes;
• and
• re-assigning the subset of partitions/applications of the role associated to the computer node in which the fault condition has been detected to that computer node presently associated to the role having the lowest availability level.