Software standard

Abstract: Model-Based Design with automatic code generation is an important and established technology for developing aerospace embedded control systems. Early verification, validation, and test of models and generated code using software tools with accompanying workflows are increasingly used. In 2009, The MathWorks released tool qualification kits for verification tools based on the commercial aviation software standard DO-178B. The use of Model-Based Design for DO-178B applications using qualified verification tools is described herein.

Abstract: In the nuclear domain, regulators have strict requirements for safetycritical software. In this paper requirements in three documents (two software standards and the Common Position of nuclear domain regulators) were compared. The aim of the work was to find out how these requirements compare to each other in terms of strictness and scope, and to evaluate the usefulness of the documents for certification purposes. Another goal was to determine whether it is possible to choose only one of the standards as the basis of software certification. The nuclear domain software standard IEC 60880 provides requirements for the purpose of achieving highly reliable software. The standard is similar to the part 3 of IEC 61508 standard in the sense that it covers requirements for all software lifecycle activities. The Common Position document "Licensing of safety critical software for nuclear reactors" states the requirements from the perspective of European nuclear regulators. The comparison was twofold. First, the absolute 'shall' requirements of a few key themes were extracted from all three documents. The strictness of these requirements was analyzed against each other. Second, to evaluate the documents' usefulness for certification, the extent in which these themes were covered by each document was analyzed by expert judgment. The main result was that the use of IEC 60880 alone is not sufficient for software certification.

Abstract: Industry recognizes that there are very small organizations that develop parts which contain software components. These organizations, those with up to 25 people, are very important to the world-wide economy, and the parts they develop are often integrated into products made by larger enterprises. Failure to deliver a quality product on time and within budget threatens the competitiveness of both organizations. One way to mitigate these risks is for all the suppliers in a product chain put in place proven engineering practices. Many international standards have been developed to capture such proven engineering practices. However, these standards were not written for very small development organizations and are consequently difficult to apply in such settings. An ISO Working Group has been established to address these difficulties. The working group developed standards and technical reports, ISO/IEC 29110, which were published in 2011 for organizations developing software. In 2009 an INCOSE working group was established to evaluate the possibility of developing a standard, using the ISO/IEC 29110 standard as a baseline and the ISO/IEC 15288 as the framework, for organizations developing systems. At the 2011 INCOSE International Workshop, a group of systems engineers reviewed the ISO/IEC 29110 software standard and proposed modifications to meet their needs. One constraint was to develop a document which will allow an organization developing systems with software components to be able to use the actual set of ISO/IEC 29110 standards as well as the proposed systems engineering standards. The future systems engineering standard is targeted at VSEs which do not have experience or expertise in tailoring ISO/IEC 15288. A draft document has been developed and reviewed. Recently, an ISO working group has been mandated to develop the ISO standard for very small organizations developing systems. The INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook is used as the main reference for the development of a set of systems engineering deployment packages. A deployment package is a set of artefacts developed to facilitate the implementation of a set of practices of a standard in a very small organization.

Abstract: Despite their beneficial influence on interoperability and markets, problems of detrimental opportunism occur with technology standards, including standards implemented in software, which this Article calls "Software Standards." Inspired by new perspectives on the study of semicommons in the history of real property, this Article contemplates the substitutability of free and open source software ("FOSS") for traditional standard-setting approaches. Standards are analogous to semicommons, where public and private use interact, raising the possibility of opportunistic influence on the Software Standard to increase private gain at the expense of the public benefit in a more uniform standard. With its source code disclosure requirement, FOSS shifts and dampens this opportunism, although various limits influence the reach of its effect. The political economy around a standard will express itself differently under a FOSS implementation, and clearing intellectual property rights in the standard is no more certain than under the traditional standard-setting approach.