Software is an important means for DLR to assure its excellence and the capability for innovation in all research and development areas. Software is developed for numerous applications. It encompasses a wide range of software from general purpose with user interfaces to embedded systems. To develop, operate and maintain the software, skills and knowledge in up-to-date and efficient software engineering processes and methods are of utmost importance.
The department Software Quality Assurance and Embedded Systems supports R&D projects in their entire lifecycle by application of software engineering methods and the setup of software quality management processes. This includes the selection, adaptation and implementation of appropriate project-specific tools. For areas where no tools are available, new quality assurance tools and tool chains are developed.
Tasks and Responsibilities
Operating Principles
To perform professionally in software quality assurance and software engineering state of the art knowledge in software development is absolutely necessary.
Thus a principle in our department is to involve our staff members as developers in software projects to keep their knowledge up to date. In our own projects advanced software technologies are systematically used and tested with tool supported processes, further their relevance for application in DLR is evaluated.
Qualifications
To provide consultancy and support for software quality management and engineering for different kinds of projects, our personnel has experience in the application of the following international standards:
Services
DLR Software Standards Today’s projects require the application of relevant standards. The department provides an Intranet tool for the application of the DLR Software Standards for software developers. The user describes the characteristics of his projects in answering a questionnaire. The tool delivers a proposal for the software engineering and quality assurance measures to be implemented into the project, derived from the entered characteristics. As an option, an outline of a software quality assurance plan and a development plan is also generated. All standards as listed are supported, except the V-Model. The practical experience from all departments of the Institute for Software Technology in own software development projects and in projects with other DLR institutes and facilities is used to set up a wide knowledge base implemented in the DLR Software Standards. Detailed procedures, example documents, and links to selected sites in the Internet will help the user to apply the proposed measures. read more ...