134,125 research outputs found

    Software certification modeling: from technical to user centric approach

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    One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user's needs. Many researches and studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Several software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. The current quality models such as McCall, Boehm, ISO9126, Sistemic and PQF model are used as the benchmark for product assessment. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification process and models have been introduced and developed. Previous fundamental and basic software certification models such as SCM-Prod and SPAC were developed to solve the uncertainties in software quality in two views which are the end product and the development process. However, the models are based on specific requirements and have certain limitations. SCM-Prod model focuses on the certification and quality requirements of software products in general. While SPAC model focuses on software certification based on development process approach. Our previous experiences in conducting certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is needed and demanded. The emergence of social network applications and other varieties of software in the market has led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. Users should be able to assess and certify their own products within their own environment at anytime and anywhere. The quality attributes for software assessment should be based on user's perspective and view. This new paradigm should the alternative focus in software product quality assessment and certification. This paper presents the evolution of software certification and assessment from technical view to user centric approach. It discusses the concept of user centric approach in software assessment and certification which also focuses on the design and development of the model (ucSoftC), the components and attributes embedded in this model. The development is believed to be beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future

    Code analysis: past and present

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    The integration of Software components within complex industrial applications with severe security standards, requires strict quality assessment of each integrated component. That is, requires a guarantee that each component is compliant with the software development good practices and all the standards in use. If full certification is easy to obtain for proprietary modules, it is particularly hard to achieve when dealing with Open-Source Software pieces, demanding for rigorous methods and techniques to implement their certification process. In this context, code analysis plays an important role as the basis for the automatization of quality assessment of open source software projects – code analysis provides the techniques and tools to implement the necessary validation process. Although source code is still the most explored (the main support for analysis), nowadays this assessment process should be able to deal with code at different compilation levels. Due to its relevance for the open source software certification task, this paper reviews code analysis area (stages of the analyzing process, traditional approaches, and future trends), aiming at identifying what is available, and what deserves further research.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

    Trusted product lines

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    This thesis describes research undertaken into the application of software product line approaches to the development of high-integrity, embedded real-time software systems that are subject to regulatory approval/certification. The motivation for the research arose from a real business need to reduce cost and lead time of aerospace software development projects. The thesis hypothesis can be summarised as follows: It is feasible to construct product line models that allow the specification of required behaviour within a reference architecture that can be transformed into an effective product implementation, whilst enabling suitable supporting evidence for certification to be produced. The research concentrates on the following four main areas: 1. Construction of an argument framework in which the application of product line techniques to high-integrity software development can be assessed and critically reviewed. 2. Definition of a product-line reference architecture that can host components containing variation. 3. Design of model transformations that can automatically instantiate products from a set of components hosted within the reference architecture. 4. Identification of verification approaches that may provide evidence that the transformations designed in step 3 above preserve properties of interest from the product line model into the product instantiations. Together, these areas form the basis of an approach we term “Trusted Product Lines”. The approach has been evaluated and validated by deployment on a real aerospace project; the approach has been used to produce DO-178B/ED-12B Level A applications of over 300 KSLOC in size. The effect of this approach on the software development process has been critically evaluated in this thesis, both quantitatively (in terms of cost and relative size of process phases) and qualitatively (in terms of software quality). The “Trusted Product Lines” approach, as described within the thesis, shows how product line approaches can be applied to high-integrity software development, and how certification evidence created and arguments constructed for products instantiated from the product line. To the best of our knowledge, the development and effective application of product line techniques in a certification environment is novel and unique

    Virtualisation of the test environment for signalling

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    ERTMS is a well-known, well-performing technology applied all over the world but it still lacks flexibility when it comes to authorisation and certification procedures. The key of its success in the future lies as much in cost reduction as in simplification of placing in service procedures. This holds true for the implementation of a new subsystem and even more so for new software releases related to subsystems already in service. Currently the placing in service process of ETCS components and subsystems requires a large amount of tests due to the complexity of the signalling systems and the different engineering rules applied. The S2R Multi-Annual Action Plan states that the effort and time consumption of these onsite tests are at least 30% for any particular project. VITE research project (VIrtualisation of the Test Environment) aims at reducing these onsite tests to a minimum while ensuring that laboratory tests can serve as evidence for valid system behaviour and are accepted by all stakeholders involved in the placing in service process. This paper presents the first VITE results

    Software Certification Modeling: From Technical to User Centric Approach

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    Abstract: One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user's needs. Many researches and studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Several software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. The current quality models such as McCall, Boehm, ISO9126, Sistemic and PQF model are used as the benchmark for product assessment. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification process and models have been introduced and developed. Previous fundamental and basic software certification models such as SCM-Prod and SPAC were developed to solve the uncertainties in software quality in two views which are the end product and the development process. However, the models are based on specific requirements and have certain limitations. SCM-Prod model focuses on the certification and quality requirements of software products in general. While SPAC model focuses on software certification based on development process approach. Our previous experiences in conducting certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is needed and demanded. The emergence of social network applications and other varieties of software in the market has led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. Users should be able to assess and certify their own products within their own environment at anytime and anywhere. The quality attributes for software assessment should be based on user's perspective and view. This new paradigm should the alternative focus in software product quality assessment and certification. This paper presents the evolution of software certification and assessment from technical view to user centric approach. It discusses the concept of user centric approach in software assessment and certification which also focuses on the design and development of the model (ucSoftC), the components and attributes embedded in this model. The development is believed to be beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future

    Development of an online application form and database for Indiana businesses who apply for the AchieveWELL certificate through the Wellness Council of Indiana

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    The purpose of this creative project was to develop an electronic form to be used by businesses that apply for the AchieveWELL certification in Indiana through the Wellness Council of Indiana (WCI). To be eligible to receive an AchieveWELL certificate, each workplace must meet criteria for 11 specific components. At this time, however, there is no formal application process for wellness programs to utilize, making the determination of eligibility problematic for the WCI and the application process confusing for the worksites attempting to become certified. An electronic form will make the process more efficient for the applicant and reviewing committee and help WCI reach their certification goals while concomitantly providing up-to-date data on the health of Indiana businesses. The electronic form will abstract and store key components in a companion data source, allowing future data analysis and tracking of the AchieveWELL companies. To create the electronic form, this researcher: 1) completed training for the Adobe interactive form software; 2) engaged in conversation with WCI leaders and stakeholders to become fully entrenched in the nuances of the project, 3) and developed the online electronic template for the AchieveWELL certificate application form and database.Thesis (M.A.)Department of Family and Consumer Science

    ESPAC model: Extended software process assessment and certification model for agile and secure software processes

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    In today’s business environment, agile and secure software processes are essential since they bring high quality and secured software to market faster and more cost-effectively.Unfortunately, some software practitioners are not following the proper practices of both processes when developing software.There exist various studies which assess the quality of software process; nevertheless, their focus is on the conventional software process. Furthermore, they do not consider weight values in the assessment although each evaluation criterion might have different importance on the project.Consequently, software certification is needed to give conformance on the quality of agile and secure software processes.Therefore, the objective of this paper is to propose ESPAC (Extended Software Process Assessment and Certification) Model which addresses both software processes and considers the weight values during the assessment.The model has been constructed by using deductive approach, whereby the theoretical and exploratory studies were conducted in order to determine the components of the proposed model. The ESPAC Model consists of six components, which are the target, evaluation criteria, reference standard, data gathering technique, assessment phases and synthesis technique.The proposed model has been validated by seven software practitioners from the practical perspectives through focus group discussion. The validation result shows that the ESPAC Model gained their satisfaction and able to be practically executed in the real environment

    Human factors certification in the development of future air traffic control systems

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    If human factors certification of aviation technologies aims to encompass the wide range of issues which need to be addressed for any new system, then human factors involvement must be present throughout the whole design process in a manner which relates to final certification. A certification process cannot simply be applied to the final product of design. Standards and guidelines will be required by designers at the outset of design for reference in preparing for certification. The most effective use of human factors principles, methods, and measures is made as part of an iterative design process, leading to a system which reflects these as far as possible. This particularly applies where the technology is complex and may be represented by a number of components or sub-systems. Some aspects of the system are best certified during early prototyping, when there is still scope to make changes to software or hardware. At this stage in design, financial and/or time pressures will not rule out the possibility of necessary changes, as may be the case later. Other aspects of the system will be best certified during the final phases of design when the system is in a more complete form and in a realistic environment

    Approach to Qualification for Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion in Ti-6Al-4V

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    Recent developments in additive manufacturing (AM) show promise for using AM manufactured components in a production setting. However, a crucial step for mass producing AM components is to certify these parts for use. One common method for certifying parts is to manufacture tensile coupons alongside any parts. These coupons are characterized and the results are related to the parts. This causes many researchers to focus on the process-material interactions while neglecting build setup. Another issue related to certification of AM parts is the lack of knowledge in the software calculations for a given process. Original equipment manufacturers (OEM), such as Arcam AB for electron beam powder bed fusion (E-PBF), need secrecy in their software to ensure their scan strategy is protected. Therefore, this practice provides researchers little information or confidence about changes made in process parameters. To provide insight into these areas of variation, the current work can be broken into two parts – (i) understanding how changes in selected process parameters can influence non-selected parameters and (ii) determining the effectiveness of current qualification methods for the E-PBF process.To better understand process parameters, changes in selected process parameters were simulated and compared with the Arcam provided parameter set. Results of these simulations show that speed function variable is only a function of melting time while modifications to the contour passes and surface temperature result in changes to the heat balance. Variations in the heat balance change the cooling rate of as-fabricated material, which causes microstructural evolution in titanium alloys. Preliminary results show that modifying the surface temperature for specific regions can be used to control microstructure.To better understand how build setup can influence parts in a build, build setup variables such as part melt order, build volume, and cross-sectional melt area were modified between two builds. Results of these changes show that performance in test coupons cannot be applied to performance in the other parts since changes in build setup influence each part differently. The current work provide challenges to applying traditional qualification methods to AM fabricated components in hopes that a process-based certification path can be achieved
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