PYRAMID has been developed by the UK Ministry Of Defence to provide a consistent approach to modularising air system application software though the PYRAMID Reference Architecture (PRA).

The PRA encourages the well established software design principles of low coupling and high cohesion. Separation of concerns makes for reusable software components, and in an industry like aerospace being able to reuse software can have massive savings in time and money.

As its name suggests, the PYRAMID Reference Architecture provides a reference architecture for the development of aerospace programmes.

Adopting PYRAMID can be a confusing journey, especially for inexperienced teams. In working with new teams we have seen the same issues occur regularly; confusion over what PYRAMID is (and what it isn't), how it is helpful, how to be compliant, when and how to start, and the kinds of skills your team members ought to have if you want a successful PYRAMID project.

Although PYRAMID is described as a solution to a software problem, at Netizen Solutions we believe PYRAMID development begins with Systems Engineering. When Systems Engineers have an understanding of how the software systems of an aircraft solution fit together, along with their constraints, they can model the systems with this in mind, reducing the potential disparities that often manifest when the two domains are not aligned. Having a "Software Systems Architect" on the team to act as a bridge between the two worlds has proven to be a real enabler to the adoption of PYRAMID development.

The PYRAMID documentation is both vast, and dense. There is a temptation to skip ahead to the selection of components from the array provided by the reference architectur. This is highly discouraged; doing so will likely result in disjointed systems that do not function well together and cause headaches further on.

Every Engineer at Netizen Solutions is fully trained and experienced in the practice of PYRAMID for aerospace projects, and we can help you too.