SHF: Medium: Assurance Based Development: A Rational Approach To Creating High Assurance Software

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The objective of this research is to create an approach to software development for critical systems where a high level of assurance is essential to prevent failures from having serious consequences. The approach being developed, Assurance Based Development (ABD), is based on two rigorous arguments that evolve throughout development. A fitness argument shows that the system has the functional, non-functional (include legal and ethical) and dependability properties necessary to satisfy all stakeholders, and a success argument shows how the development activities will yield a satisfactory system within time and budget constraints. Because these arguments capture the concerns of all stakeholders, their state at any given time reveals the obligations incident on the developers. Choosing development activities to meet these obligations facilitates early detection and avoidance of potential assurance difficulties. Choice also allows the developer to deploy expensive technology, such as formal verification, only on components whose assurance needs demand it.Evaluation and assessment of ABD is being conducted using case studies of a prototype artificial heart pump and a security-critical application.