Applying COCOMO II for a DO-178C Safety-Critical Software Effort Estimation

Lucas Pereira Dos Santos,Maurício Ferreira

doi:10.5028/jatm.v11.1031

Lucas Pereira Dos Santos, Maurício Ferreira

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5028/jatm.v11.1031

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Abstract

This paper provides a real example of applying COCOMO II as an estimation technique for the required software development effort in a safety-critical software application project following the DO-178C processes. The main goal and contribution of the case study is to support the research on software effort estimation and to provide software practitioners with useful data based on a real project. We applied the method as it is, by correlating the effort multiplier factors with the complexity and objectives introduced by the DO-178C level A application, resulting in an estimated effort. The rationales for each scale factor and effort multiplier selection were also described in detail. By comparing the estimated values with the actual required data, we found a magnitude of relative error (MRE) of 40% and provided alternatives for future work in order to increase the effort estimation accuracy in safety-critical software projects.

Highlights

The software industry is, by far, one of the businesses that have been introducing most of the major innovations in the modern world (WIPO 2016)
This paper presents a specific literature review on effort estimation methods in general, the concept of critical software, and a case study of effort estimation of software development using the COCOMO II (Boehm et al 2000) method in a critical software project that follows the processes defined by the DO-178C (RTCA 2011e) standard
The case study described in this paper addresses all the concepts presented to the reader up to this moment, being a critical software, following the processes established by the DO-178C, and applying the COCOMO II method as a development effort estimation

Summary

Introduction

The software industry is, by far, one of the businesses that have been introducing most of the major innovations in the modern world (WIPO 2016). Calling a cab by an app on a smartphone, for example, will depend upon a series of safety issues, once the car will likely be unmanned, which will be possible due to the use of autonomous navigation technology (Scaramuzza et al 2014)environment monitoring, security surveillance, and inspection. If they are further realized in small scale, they can be used in narrow outdoor and indoor environments and represent only a limited risk for people.

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Discussion

Conclusion