SRAE: An Integrated Framework for Aiding in the Verification and Validation of Legacy Artifacts in NASA Flight Control Systems

Experience has shown that software reuse helps to improve the quality of software while reducing development costs and labor efforts. Though it is an attractive approach to software development, reuse is not as simple to achieve as it may appear on the surface. Observations at the NASA IV & V Facility reveal that ad-hoc reuse of legacy artifacts frequently occur in the development of flight control systems for unmanned spaceflight missions. At Global Science & Technology, Inc., we have been studying ways of identifying and mitigating the risks associated with reusing legacy software in NASA missions. To aid in this effort, we have developed a framework, known as SRAE (Software Reuse Analysis Environment), which is based on textual comparisons and analysis of software artifacts. In this paper, we present the SRAE framework and its benefits. We also highlight results gained by applying the framework to software artifacts from NASA missions.