An integrated test approach for avionics system development

Test and verification represents a significant portion of avionics software development cost. A key to achieving efficient avionics software verification is close coordination between the system and software teams. When the verification tasks are coordinated, it improves the quality and efficiency of the verification effort by: removing redundant tests without compromising the integrity of the overall test effort; verifying compliance to requirements earlier in the program; and conducting tests on the appropriate platform that is most efficient for that test. This paper presents an integrated system/software test philosophy called the Integrated Test Suite. The Integrated Test Suite defines a method of implementing common test environment and test procedures for system requirement and software unit tests. The common test environment and test procedures represent a hierarchical set of tests where each test is developed at the appropriate time and executed on the most efficient platform. The Integrated Test Suite takes advantage of automated test techniques and state-of-the-art Ethernet technology to increase the thoroughness of the tests while reducing the manual effort required. A summary of the results of implementing the Integrated Test Suite and an evaluation of improvement in quality and efficiency of the verification process are provided.