An evaluation of a DO-178A software development process

The guidance and control software experiment is an effort to generate realistic software failure data by developing three implementations of a guidance and control software application according to the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics RTCA/DO-178A guidelines. The purpose of the software is to provide real-time guidance and engine control for a planetary landing vehicle during its terminal descent onto a surface. The software is also responsible for transmitting sensory information about the vehicle and its descent to a receiving device. The authors describe their approach for evaluating the DO-178A guidelines and give results from the development and verification process for the Pluto implementation. The other names are Mercury and Earth. The preliminary analysis of the Pluto implementation has yielded some results that may be of use in other implementations