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A Software Verification Approach That Complies with DO-178B Certification Rules on UAV’s Flight Control Computer

Received: 12 June 2020     Accepted: 24 July 2020     Published: 9 June 2021
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Abstract

In this paper, the verification approach developed in accordance with the DO-178B certification requirements of the software of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s (UAV) Flight Control Computer (FCC) and the lessons learned from this approach are presented. The software verification process is a process that is used to verify how the aircraft's flight control computer behaves according to specified requirements and is used to verify that it does not produce unexpected results. The paper will first describe the software architecture, and then the types of tests developed in accordance with the software architecture. Then, test levels will be compared according to different testing parameters. Afterwards, the information regarding the management of test cases will be reviewed in detail with their different scenarios. The traceability controls and the importance of using traceability while writing the test cases and how to blend a traceability inside a test case will be explained. The studies on structural coverage analysis will be covered in a different section. This whole process can be made automated. To help automate the process, various tools are used. These tools also need to be tested, meaning they need to be qualified. Section 8 talks about this. Finally, lessons learned from the DO-178B certification process will be presented at the end of the paper.

Published in American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajset.20210602.13
Page(s) 27-33
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Do-178B, Software Verification, Software Testing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

References
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[2] SAE, ARP 4761 - Guidelines and Methods for conducting the Safety Assessment Process on Civil Airborne Systems and Equipment (1996).
[3] RTCA, DO-178B, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems ans Equipment Certification (1992).
[4] Software Testing Material Site, https://www.softwaretestingmaterial.com/integrationtesting/# What-is-Bottom-Up-Approach, last accessed 10/08/2019.
[5] Herrmann, D. S. (1999). Software safety and reliability: Techniques, approaches, and standards of key industrial sectors. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society.
[6] Alspaugh, T. A., S. R. Faulk, K. H. Britton, R. A. Parker, D. L. Parnas, and J. E. Shore 1992 “Software requirements for the A-7E aircraft,” Tech. Rep. NRL/FR/5546-92- 9194, Naval Research Lab., Washington DC.
[7] Busser, R. D., M. R. Blackburn, A. M. Nauman 2001 Automated Model Analysis and Test Generation for Flight Guidance Mode Logic, Digital Avionics System Conference.
[8] Hayhurst, Kelly J., C. Michael Holloway, Cheryl A. Dorsey, John C. Knight, Nancy G. Leveson, G. Frank McCormick, and Jeffery C. Yang 1998 Streamlining Software Aspects of Certification: Technical Team Report on the First Industry Workshop. NASA/TM-1998-207648, April.
[9] Johnson, Leslie A. (Schad) 1998 DO-178B,"Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification" STSC Crosstalk, October. http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/1998/10/.
[10] Salmon, David 1993 Assemblers And Loaders, Ellis Horwood Ltd (Ellis Horwood Series in Computers and Their Applications) Market Cross House, Cooper Street, Chichester, PO19 1EB, West Sussex, UK. ISBN 0130525642.
[11] Rierson, L. (2013). Developing Safety-Critical Software. Abingdon, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.
[12] Patel, Parnasi & Bhatt, Chintan. (2019). Structural Coverage Analysis Methods. 10.4018/978-1-5225-7455-2.ch002.
[13] H. D. Desai, "Test Case Management System (TCMS)," 1994 IEEE GLOBECOM. Communications: The Global Bridge, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1994, pp. 1581-1585 vol. 3, doi: 10.1109/GLOCOM.1994.513041.
[14] Mandava, R. B., & Arcand, J. F. (2007). U.S. Patent No. 7, 203, 928. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
[15] Defect Management Process: How to Manage a Defect Effectively. (2020, April 16). Retrieved from https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/defect-management-process/.
[16] Jacklin, Stephen & Lowry, Michael & Schumann, Johann & Gupta, Pramod & Bosworth, John & Zavala, Eddie & Kelly, John & Hayhurst, Kelly & Belcastro, Celeste & Belcastro, Christine. (2004). Verification Validation and Certification Challenges for Adaptive Flight-Critical Control System Software. Collection of Technical Papers - AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference. 4. 10.2514/6.2004-5258.
[17] Escudero, César & Delmas, Rémi & Bochot, Thomas & David, Matthieu & Wiels, Virginie. (2018). Automatic Generation of DO-178 Test Procedures. 10.1007/978-3-319-77935-5_27.
[18] Cook, Stephen & Haverkamp, Glenn. (2020). Challenges and Opportunities for Software Development and Verification on Military Aircraft Systems. 10.2514/6.2020-0238.
[19] Jasim, Omar & Veres, Sandor. (2020). Verification Framework for Control System Functionality of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
[20] Seabridge, Allan & Moir, Ian. (2019). Verification of System Requirements. 10.1002/9781119611479.ch7.
[21] O'Regan, Gerard. (2019). Verification of Safety-Critical Systems. 10.1007/978-3-030-28494-7_13.
[22] Yu, Junchong. (2020). Test Verification. 10.1007/978-981-15-2894-1_16.
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  • APA Style

    Oğuzhan Demir, İbrahim Seyfullah Babaarslan. (2021). A Software Verification Approach That Complies with DO-178B Certification Rules on UAV’s Flight Control Computer. American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology, 6(2), 27-33. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajset.20210602.13

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    ACS Style

    Oğuzhan Demir; İbrahim Seyfullah Babaarslan. A Software Verification Approach That Complies with DO-178B Certification Rules on UAV’s Flight Control Computer. Am. J. Sci. Eng. Technol. 2021, 6(2), 27-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ajset.20210602.13

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    AMA Style

    Oğuzhan Demir, İbrahim Seyfullah Babaarslan. A Software Verification Approach That Complies with DO-178B Certification Rules on UAV’s Flight Control Computer. Am J Sci Eng Technol. 2021;6(2):27-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ajset.20210602.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajset.20210602.13,
      author = {Oğuzhan Demir and İbrahim Seyfullah Babaarslan},
      title = {A Software Verification Approach That Complies with DO-178B Certification Rules on UAV’s Flight Control Computer},
      journal = {American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {27-33},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajset.20210602.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajset.20210602.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajset.20210602.13},
      abstract = {In this paper, the verification approach developed in accordance with the DO-178B certification requirements of the software of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s (UAV) Flight Control Computer (FCC) and the lessons learned from this approach are presented. The software verification process is a process that is used to verify how the aircraft's flight control computer behaves according to specified requirements and is used to verify that it does not produce unexpected results. The paper will first describe the software architecture, and then the types of tests developed in accordance with the software architecture. Then, test levels will be compared according to different testing parameters. Afterwards, the information regarding the management of test cases will be reviewed in detail with their different scenarios. The traceability controls and the importance of using traceability while writing the test cases and how to blend a traceability inside a test case will be explained. The studies on structural coverage analysis will be covered in a different section. This whole process can be made automated. To help automate the process, various tools are used. These tools also need to be tested, meaning they need to be qualified. Section 8 talks about this. Finally, lessons learned from the DO-178B certification process will be presented at the end of the paper.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AB  - In this paper, the verification approach developed in accordance with the DO-178B certification requirements of the software of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’s (UAV) Flight Control Computer (FCC) and the lessons learned from this approach are presented. The software verification process is a process that is used to verify how the aircraft's flight control computer behaves according to specified requirements and is used to verify that it does not produce unexpected results. The paper will first describe the software architecture, and then the types of tests developed in accordance with the software architecture. Then, test levels will be compared according to different testing parameters. Afterwards, the information regarding the management of test cases will be reviewed in detail with their different scenarios. The traceability controls and the importance of using traceability while writing the test cases and how to blend a traceability inside a test case will be explained. The studies on structural coverage analysis will be covered in a different section. This whole process can be made automated. To help automate the process, various tools are used. These tools also need to be tested, meaning they need to be qualified. Section 8 talks about this. Finally, lessons learned from the DO-178B certification process will be presented at the end of the paper.
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