The U.S. Army's Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) Product Line: A Case Study

This report is one in a series of Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute case studies of organizations that have adopted a software product line approach for developing a family of software-intensive systems. The U.S. Army's Technical Applications Program Office (TAPO) has adopted a product line approach for the avionics software used for the Army's special operations helicopters. That software is based on Rockwell Collins' Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS). The product line has evolved beyond its original scope and is now being adopted to include other Army aviation platforms such as cargo and utility helicopters.

This case study describes the acquisition context and organizations involved in the product line, the history behind the development and evolution of the product line, its application to the mission of the Army's special operations helicopters, the Army's motivation for adopting a product line, specifics of the product line approach, and the underlying CAAS system and software architecture. The case study also highlights the software product line accomplishments, examines the results and lessons learned from TAPO's and Rockwell Collins' perspective, and discusses future considerations.

PDF [351 KB]

Authors

Paul C. Clements

John K. Bergey

This report is related to the following area(s) of work:

Case Studies
Software Product Lines

Technical Report
CMU/SEI-2005-TR-019
September 2005

Cite This Report

SEI:

Clements, Paul; & Bergey, John. The U.S. Army's Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) Product Line: A Case Study (CMU/SEI-2005-TR-019). Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 2005. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/05tr019.cfm

IEEE:

P. Clements, and J. Bergey, "The U.S. Army's Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) Product Line: A Case Study," Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Technical Report CMU/SEI-2005-TR-019, 2005. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/05tr019.cfm

APA:

Clements, P., & Bergey, J. (2005). The U.S. Army's Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) Product Line: A Case Study (CMU/SEI-2005-TR-019). Retrieved June 19, 2013, from the Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University website: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/05tr019.cfm

CHI:

Clements, Paul, and John Bergey. The U.S. Army's Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) Product Line: A Case Study (CMU/SEI-2005-TR-019). Pittsburgh, PA: Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 2005. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/05tr019.cfm

MLA:

Clements, P., & Bergey, J. 2005. The U.S. Army's Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) Product Line: A Case Study (Technical Report CMU/SEI-2005-TR-019). Pittsburgh: Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/05tr019.cfm

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