A Validation Metrics Framework for Safety-Critical Software-Intensive Systems

Abstract

Validation of safety-critical software requirements is a difficult and frequently misunderstood task. It answers the question of "are we building the right product?" and is essential to Software Engineering. However, validation is often confused with verification activities, or simply left as a final tick-in-the-box just prior to delivery. Current models for validation cannot satisfy the unique aspects of safety-critical software where "building the right safety product" is paramount. Software safety requires a new model for validation of safety requirements by proxy. The need for a proxy model becomes evident in the software safety process, where customer input for safety is reduced to the requirement of "a safe system."

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA496995

Entities

People

  • Kristian J. Cruickshank

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Case Studies
  • Command And Control
  • Computer Programming
  • Control Systems
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Measurement
  • Munitions
  • Risk Analysis
  • Safety
  • Safety Engineering
  • Software Development
  • Software Development Tools
  • Software Metrics
  • Systems Engineering
  • Weapon Control

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Systems Analysis and Design