Application of CASE tools in the development of commercial avionics software

CASE tools increase productivity in the development of software-based systems by performing analysis that cannot be done by humans, and by automating repetitive tasks. The potential of these tools has not been realized due to limited use by small pockets of engineers. The paper describes the results of a survey that explores the perceptions of the engineers that use CASE tools for the development of certified software for commercial air transport avionics. All the engineers cited improvements in software duality, but were split down the middle on the contribution of CASE tools to reduction in project cycle-time. Ease-of-use of the tool the most critical factor in the individual engineers choice to use a CASE tool. Differences between the format and style of documents and code generated by the CASE tool and the corporate format and style standards is the biggest hurdle to integrating CASE tools into corporate development processes.