FM Program: FAA-sponsored Software Work

Under sponsorship of the Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) , we have been conducting research into various aspects of software specification, development, verification, and validation for several years. The specific current and recent projects are as follows:

• Development of a tutorial on Modified Condition/Decision Coverage (MC/DC). MC/DC is a DO-178B objective for software structural coverage required for Level A software. We have produced a tutorial to explain the purpose of MC/DC and provide a practical approach for meeting the MC/DC objective and determining whether that objective has been met. This work was done with Dan Veerhusen (Rockwell Collins, Inc.), John Chilenski (Boeing Company), and Leanna Rierson (FAA).
• Investigation of issues in the use of object-oriented techniques in safety-critical systems. We are working with John Chilenski of the Boeing Company to provide input to the FAA on the use of object-oriented technology in aviation systems. In particular, we are investigating issues related to structural coverage and issues related to software tools used in development and verification of object-oriented software.
• Participation in the activities of the joint RTCA/EUROCAE SC 190/WG 52 , which was formed in 1996 to clarify issues regarding the document DO-178B/ED-12B, "Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipement Certification".
• Streamlining Software Aspects of Certification

Note: The tag identifies links that are outside of the NASA domain.