Joint of the 32nd International Workshop on Software Measurement and the 17th International Conference on Software Process and Product Measurement, IWSM-MENSURA 2023, Rome, Italy, 14 - 15 September 2023, vol.3543
Safety-critical software failures lead to serious results such as loss of live or damage to the environment; therefore, safety-critical software verification requires special attention. Avionics system software is one type of safety-critical software. "DO-178C: Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification" was released in 2011 by RTCA, Inc., which defines processes for airborne systems software development and verification. On the other hand, there are well-defined guidelines to improve verification and validation processes of software system development, specifically for software testing. TMMI (Test Maturity Model Integration) model is produced by TMMI Foundation as a guidance for organizations to improve their test processes and product quality. Avionics system software has own safety-related software characteristics, and TMMI does not specifically address software testing practices of these characteristics. To fill this gap, we first identify avionics software characteristics from DO-178C handbook as the base for software testing, and then propose a domain specific guidance document that employs TMMI practices as complementary to DO-178C activities. The document is aimed to help test organizations in improving test processes by focusing on airborne software characteristics. The proposed approach is targeted for integration testing of avionics software, since this level of testing is very critical for defect prevention in the safetycritical domain.