Developing in the dark: Software Development and Quality Assurance for the VENUS/NEPTUNE Canada Cabled Observatories

The software in support of the NEPTUNE Canada underwater cabled observatory faced multiple uncertainties and risk factors regarding the scope and nature of the instrumentation to be supported as well as the functional requirements for data storage and retrieval. This is not an unexpected situation for totally new, innovative and large science projects. This paper reviews the challenges, issues and solution adopted for ensuring the highest possible software quality given the circumstances of the project.