Evidential and Continuous Integration of Software Verification Tools

Abstract

The complexity of embedded software and increasing demands on dependability, safety, and security has outpaced the capabilities of current verification and certification methods. In particular traditional verification and certification methods based on manual reviews, process constraints, and testing, which are mandated by current safety standards such as DO-178C [1] and DO-278A [2] for airborne systems and air traffic management systems, ISO 26262 [11] in the automative domain, and IEC 61508 for industrial domains including factory automation and robotics are proving to be overly time- and resource-intensive. For example, costs for developing certification evidence in safety cases according to the DO-178C standard have been shown to range between $50 to $100 per executable line of code, depending on the required safety level [15]. Unless mission-critical embedded software can be developed and verified with less cost and effort, while still satisfying the highest dependability requirements, new mission-critical capabilities such as autonomous control may never reach the market.