Software safety and software quality assurance in real-time applications: Part 1. Software quality assurance and software safety (concepts and standardization efforts)

Abstract

Software safety and software quality assurance are important for applications in all fields where computers are applicable — although most efforts have been undertaken in the field of commercial applications. But with a society depending more on the reliability and safety of computer-controlled systems than ever before (even in everyday life), these aspects are becoming more important (and more threatening) every day, especially when considering the complexity of the world of real-time computing, interaction and control. Software quality assurance terms, attributes and methods as derived from the lifecycle model are presented. Hard- and software architectures to ensure reliable and safe and/or fault tolerant systems are discussed. The terms used in that context are explained to gain a deeper understanding of this topic. Since the author is taking part actively in national and international standardization efforts and in committees of organizations like IEC and EWICS engaged in this work, an overview of the state-of-the-art in this field will be given.