Applying checkers to improve the correctness and integrity of software [Air Force systems]

Testing of mission-critical systems to a high degree of reliability has been a long time problem for the Air Force. As a result system failures may occur in the field due to faults that result from unusual environmental conditions or unexpected sequences of events that were never encountered in the laboratory. To improve the validation and test process and deliver more reliable systems, under the Air Force self-checking embedded information system software (SCEISS) program, we have performed several demonstrations of self-checking systems that continuously monitor themselves to report suspicious events and software faults. Based on theoretical University results, the SCEISS program has demonstrated improvements in the reliability and quality of software-intensive systems through employing self-checking techniques. This paper presents metrics that show the value of checkers in finding errors earlier with less cost and effort on several Raytheon applications and describes a checker library that is under development to automate the inclusion of checkers in a software integration environment.