653P0-3 Avionics Application Software Standard Interface, Part 0, Overview of ARINC 653

This document provides an overview of the entire set of documents collectively referred to as ARINC 653. As this set of documents evolves, Part 0 has been adjusted to reflect technical changes made in Supplements to Parts 1 through 5 in conjunction with the technical changes made in the evolution of ARINC 653. A summary of the ARINC 653 documents follows:

• Part 0 – Overview of ARINC 653
• Part 1 – Required Services
• Part 2 – Extended Services
• Part 3A – Conformity Test Specification for ARINC 653 Required Services
• Part 3B – Conformity Test Specification for ARINC 653 Extended Services
• Part 4 – Subset Services
• Part 5 – Core Software Recommended Capabilities

The term “this document” refers to Part 0 only, while the term “ARINC 653” or “the Specification” refers to the whole set of ARINC 653 documents, currently Parts 0 to 5.

The primary objective of ARINC 653 is to define a general-purpose APplication/EXecutive (APEX) interface (API = Application Program Interface) between the Core Software (CSW) of an Avionics Computer Resource (ACR) and the application software. Included within ARINC 653 are the interface requirements between the application software and the CSW and the list of services which allow the application software to control the scheduling, communication, and status information of its internal processing elements.