Software Requirements Analysis for Nuclear Experiments

Software requirements are an integral part of the programming applications in nuclear experiments. In software development for nuclear applications in which there is a strong interaction with hardware, the safety concern will be always considered. To produce high-quality and safe software for nuclear applications it is necessary to understand and to analyze the software requirements first, and it is very important to apply a defined methodology to perform the job properly. In the development of software it is important to know in deep the requirements of the problem to solve, the users´ needs, to realize the system analysis, modelling and prototyping. The methodology presented in this paper, provides tasks to support the process of requirements identification and validation for systems considered as critical, due to the fact that failures can result in physical damages. These tasks can be adapted to a broad range of situations in nuclear areas. We have devised this methodology after the study of various software process models, considering the necessity to improve the safety of software for nuclear applications.