Developing Safety-Critical Software - Rierson, Leanna

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Résumé :
Preface It's with a great sense of responsibility and complete humility that I present this book. After two years of researching and writing, I feel I've only scratched the surface. I hope that what I share and have experienced will help you in your professional endeavors. My passion is safety and making its realization practical. As early as high school, I wrote a column for the local newspaper on safety tips, extensively researching (as much as one can in rural America before the Internet): bathtub safety, tractor safety, and electrical safety, among others. My senior year of high school, I competed in the state persuasive speech competition--the subject was seatbelt safety. My desire to promote safety led me to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and is the primary motivation behind this book. Software is only one link in the overall safety chain. Yet, it is an important link and one which grows more vital each year. As software becomes more prevalent and is used in more critical ways, its risks and contributions to safety increase. At the same time that the risk due to software is increasing, the business models of many companies seem to be shifting--more is expected with less, schedule becomes king, and software engineers are treated like pieces on a game board that can be randomly reorganized. This book is intended to be a tool for those caught in the churn of the industry. Perhaps you are a systems engineer or manager, a software manager, a software engineer, a quality assurance engineer, or a student striving to learn from the experiences of others. You want to do an outstanding job but are overwhelmed with schedule and budget pressures. I hope that is this book, based on the last 20 years of my life in the aviation industry,--

Biographie:
Leanna Rierson is an independent consultant in software, complex electronic hardware, and integrated module avionics (IMA) development for safety-critical systems, with emphasis on civil aviation. She has more than 20 years of experience in the software and aviation industry. Rierson spent nine years as a software and avionics specialist at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-five of those in the position of chief scientific and technical advisor for aircraft computer software. Rierson has published numerous papers, led many national and international engineering teams and workshops, and developed courses, policies, handbooks, and guidance material for the FAA. She served as a subgroup cochair and editorial team leader on the RTCA special committee that wrote DO-178C and six other related documents. Rierson has taught DO-178B, and now DO-178C, to hundreds of professionals. She is an FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER) with Level A authority in the software and complex hardware technical areas. She has worked with numerous aircraft and avionics companies, including Boeing, Cessna, Learjet, Embraer, Rockwell Collins, GE Aviation, Honeywell, and numerous others. She is currently working part-time for the Rockwell Collins avionics certification team.

Sommaire:
Introduction Introduction and Overview Context of Safety-Critical Software Development Software in the Context of the System Software in the Context of the System Safety Assessment Developing Safety-Critical Software Using DO-178C Overview of DO-178C and Supporting Documents Software Planning Software Requirements Software Design Software Implementation: Coding and Integration Software Verification Software Configuration Management Software Quality Assurance Certification Liaison Tool Qualification and DO-178C Supplements DO-330 and Software Tool Qualification DO-331 and Model-Based Development and Verification DO-332 and Object-Oriented Technology and Related Techniques DO-333 and Formal Methods Special Topics Noncovered Code (Dead, Extraneous, and Deactivated Code) Field-Loadable Software User-Modifiable Software Real-Time Operating Systems Software Partitioning Configuration Data Aeronautical Data Software Reuse Reverse Engineering Outsourcing and Offshoring Software Life Cycle Activities Appendices Appendix A: Example Transition Criteria Appendix B: Real-Time Operating System Areas of Concern Appendix C: Questions to Consider When Selecting a Real-Time Operating System for a Safety-Critical System Appendix D: Software Service History Questions Index

It is easy to notice the author's extensive and hands-on knowledge in the domain. ... Such experience emanates from the book pages. ... The book is a must for anyone engaged in developing, verifying, or certifying airborne systems. ... [It] offers very clear but relatively concise explanation of the process of developing software-intensive aviation systems under guidance of RTCA DO-178C and related documents. The book does an outstanding job of providing necessary basics with very practical 'dos and don'ts'. ... can be used as a base reference for software aspects of airborne systems development process. -Andrew J. Kornecki, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University This book provides practical guidance for cost-effective safe software. Ms. Rierson distilled the key elements from her experiences and multiple projects into a concise, easy-to-understand book. ... This book demonstrates how, when done properly, safe software development can avoid the inefficiencies and bureaucracy sometimes associated with certification and DO-178. ... What differentiates this book is its honest, real-world recommendations and the insights into the significance of the various DO-178C objectives. If projects took her guidance seriously and implemented it from the start, I believe the projects would cost a fraction of 'check-box' projects and result in safer software. -Wendy Ljungren, GE Aviation The book is well researched, and is based on the experiences of a knowledgeable regulator and a practitioner. Leanna's style is easy to read. It explains the terse but precise guidance given in regulations using terms that are easy to understand. ... The topic is made very approachable through a combination of three styles. It uses a narrative form so the book reads like a story, with the development of arguments and reasoning of an essay, and the certification experiences of the author like an autobiography. The result is an engaging book that is hard to put down. -George Romanski, Verocel, Inc.