Verification and validation of requirements for mission critical systems

The aim of this tutorial is to introduce a number of practical techniques for analyzing requirements for embedded, mission critical systems, along with a general model for applying them as part of an Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) process. We will emphasize the use of formal modeling techniques, but with a purely practical aim: we will demonstrate how to select and apply an appropriate analysis technique, irrespective of whether the project to which it is to be applied routinely uses any formal specification languages. The tutorial draws on our, experiences with lightweight formal techniques applied to NASA programs, in which we have demonstrated that formal techniques offer a great deal of value as a modeling tool for analysis of mission critical software requirements, without incurring the expense of formally specifymg these requirements. The tutorial will include several NASA case studies.