RESUMEN

Safety-critical systems, also known as high-integrity real-time systems (HIRTS), require architecture description languages that model the entire system, rather than specific parts or aspects of the system. ADLs pose unique challenges in their construction. Architecture Information Modeling is an ADL developed in collaboration with the safety industry. AIM provides language flexibility, abstraction layering, custom view creation, a design-by-view process, and safety and change control. A case study demonstrates the application of the AIM concepts in a top-down software design.This article is part of a focus section on software architecture.