Software Verification and Validation

Software Verification and Validation

The highly advanced nature of space systems, the high cost of equipment, as well as the safety and mission critical issues in connection with satellites and space transportation systems, raises the requirement that all systems must be stringently and thoroughly verified and validated prior to launch

Independent Software Verification and Validation (ISVV)

Rovsing is a European leader in the area of ISVV, having supported the first ever successful qualification of Class A software in Europe (read article). This software was developed by Airbus Defence and Space (former EADS Astrium) for the European unmanned cargo module ATV being used to bring goods to the International Space Station and docking with it automatically. Rovsing spent more than 40 man-years on ISVV for this software, and Rovsing has been instrumental in the development of ISVV methods and procedures, such as the CAIM method for accessing criticality of each software element, and we are constantly improving our methods to take full advantage of new technologies.

Excerpt from an ESA press release, June 19th 2006

The MSU software has been designed and developed within a tight collaboration between the ESA and EADS-ST technical teams, gathered in the so-called ‘MSU team’ which consists of a dozen flight control and software specialists. From the early development stages, ROVSING A/S has been involved in the development and test campaign of the MSU software, providing feedback on the results of their own independent assessment to the MSU team. This successful collaboration started in 2001, and the qualification of the ‘Category A’ software was achieved in March 2006. “This development is a premiere in Europe, and is, above all, the result of the successful day-to-day collaboration”, underlines Eric Zekri. For the ESA ATV team and EADS SPACE Transportation, being collocated on the same site of Les Mureaux (50 km west of Paris) has been a great help for this software development. “The working relationship we had with our ESA partner is much more than contractual. A real process of emulation and mutual confidence has been built up between us for five years”, said David Berthelier, the MSU project manager at EADS SPACE Transportation in Les Mureaux, “Within our EADS integrated team, everyone was proud and motivated to develop a whole software from top to bottom with this exceptional level of criticality. This Category A software is a first in Europe”.

References

Rovsing’s ISVV and SVF references include:

  • ISVV for MetOp-SG
  • ISVV for ExoMars Rover
  • ISVV for Sentinel-2
  • ISVV for ATV Flight Application Software
  • ISVV for ATV Monitoring and Safety Unit Software
  • COF Unified Synoptic System
  • SVF for ATV FAS and MSU Software
  • ISVV for Automatic Code Generation
  • Crew Space Transportation System IV&V Bread Boarding
  • ISVV for the Gaia Satellite On-board Software
  • ISVV for the Sentinel-2 Satellite On-board Software
  • SVF development for the Sentinel-3 Satellite On-board Software
  • ISV Process Definition for the E-ELT (European – Extremely Large Telescope)
  • Validation of the BepiColombo Satellite On-board Software