Optimizing Verification and Validation Activities for Software in the Space Industry

Software for space applications has special requirements in terms of reliability and dependability and the verification & validation activities (VAs) of these systems often account for more than 50% of the development effort. The industry is also faced with political and market pressure to deliver software faster and cheaper. Thus new ways are needed to optimize these activities so that high quality can be retained even with reduced costs and effort. Here we present a framework for the management and optimization of verification & validation activities (VAMOS). An initial evaluation of the framework based on historical data as well as data extracted with a new tool has been done and are described briefly.