Adapting the Orthogonal Defect Classification Taxonomy to the Space Domain

Space systems are developed using conservative technologies and processes and respecting requirements and restrictions imposed by specific standards, domain policies, and design and optimization constraints. However, the artefacts produced at each lifecycle phase are not perfect. To overcome this, Independent Software Verification and Validation (ISVV) represents a valuable asset to detect issues, but, a proper and efficient issue classification system is necessary to analyze the root causes, identify the development processes to improve, and assess the efficiency of verification activities. The Orthogonal Defect Classification (ODC) is the most commonly used and adopted classification scheme, but was not originally targeted to engineering issues in critical systems. In this paper we present an empirical study where ODC has been used to classify space domain issues and propose an adaptation of the taxonomy for space systems.

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