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A Case Study of Measuring Process Risk for Early Insights into Software SafetyIn this case study, we examine software safety risk in three flight hardware systems in NASA's Constellation spaceflight program. We applied our Technical and Process Risk Measurement (TPRM) methodology to the Constellation hazard analysis process to quantify the technical and process risks involving software safety in the early design phase of these projects. We analyzed 154 hazard reports and collected metrics to measure the prevalence of software in hazards and the specificity of descriptions of software causes of hazardous conditions. We found that 49-70% of 154 hazardous conditions could be caused by software or software was involved in the prevention of the hazardous condition. We also found that 12-17% of the 2013 hazard causes involved software, and that 23-29% of all causes had a software control. The application of the TPRM methodology identified process risks in the application of the hazard analysis process itself that may lead to software safety risk.
Document ID
20110008246
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Layman, Lucas
(Fraunhofer USA, Inc. College Park, MD, United States)
Basili, Victor
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Zelkowitz, Marvin V.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Fisher, Karen L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2011
Subject Category
Computer Programming And Software
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Software Engineering
Location: Honolulu, HI
Country: United States
Start Date: May 21, 2011
End Date: May 28, 2011
Sponsors: Association for Computing Machinery, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX08AZ60G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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