Impacts of the Space Technology Evolution in the V&V of Embedded Software-Intensive Systems

CubeSat-based nanosatellites are composed of COTS components and rely on its structure and standardized interfaces. A challenge in the nanosatellites context is to adapt the V&V (Verification and Validation) process to answer to the increase importance of the embedded software, to reduce the artefacts to be delivered aiming at cutting cost and time and still complying with international standards. This work presents an analysis of the strategy adopted in a real nanosatellite for the development of the OBDH software embedded in NanosatC-BR2 mission. The goal is to discuss the impact that the standardization of the structure and interfaces of the CubeSat impose on the V&V process of the SiS and to highlight the challenges of “New Space Age” for the use of existing V&V techniques and methods.