Originally Posted by
Fly Aiprt
...what is unclear is why tests in a real aircraft come so late into the development timeline ?...
@clearedtocross has it:
Originally Posted by
clearedtocross
The problem with interactive computer systems with both synchronous and async interactions is that any amount of testing does not make sure they always work. You have to get it right by design, not by testing...
I've been in the computer data communications field for half a century now, not in aeronautics (that was my dad's job, on the Avro Arrow - though I gather that aircraft is also still grounded...). The design of interdependent, asynchronous systems (whether multiple tasks on a single piece of hardware, or inter-system communication via data buses) is not the proverbial "rocket science" but the result of careful understanding of each component, what it's dependent on, and how that dependence is handled.
Capable practitioners in the field, who we hope are integral to aeronautical design, understand critical sections, race conditions and how to avoid, etc. ... and apply that to their own designs, their overall contributions to their own firm's designs, and their specifications to suppliers.