A navigation system manufacturer cuts development time by 20 percent

This navigation system manufacturer in Europe specializes in designing, developing and producing a broad range of integrated navigation systems. Used in avionics and tactical applications as well as for naval and land applications, the company’s systems include GPSs, INSs, air data sensors (ADSs) and magnetic sensor units (MSUs).

Improving efficiency and ability to demonstrate compliance

The company had two major goals. First, it wanted to make it faster and easier to demonstrate compliance with the DO-178B and DO-178C Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certifications, which are used to determine whether software will perform reliably in an airborne environment. Second, the organization wanted to improve software component reuse. The company already used IBM® Rational® RequisitePro® software for requirements management, and the business wanted to find a solution that integrated easily with its existing applications.

Embracing model-based, modular development

The company implemented IBM Rational ClearCase®, IBM Rational ClearQuest® and IBM Rational Rhapsody® software to support the transformation of its development processes and transform its existing software into reusable modular components.

Using Rational Rhapsody software, the company adopted a model-driven approach to development, performing the high-level design of its software applications within the Rational application. Rational Rhapsody software also helps enable the company to use automation to compile and test software modules directly on its test systems, improving efficiency, quality and safety of the resulting navigation systems by identifying defects earlier in the development lifecycle when they are less costly to fix. In addition to developing new code, the company imported its existing Ada code into the Rational Rhapsody development environment. the company uses Rational ClearQuest software for change management and the Rational ClearCase application for defect management.

Improving software quality and traceability

Using the Rational ClearCase application, staff can use a web browser to access information on outstanding software defects and verify that defects have been fixed. “The quality of software is better because it’s very difficult to miss a change or a bug in a specific software version,” says a senior software engineer with the company. He estimates that it now takes approximately 25 percent to 50 percent less time for staff members to find the defect-related information they need.

The solution also makes it much easier to trace from a requirement through the design and down to the code, allowing staff to trace from the requirement in Rational RequisitePro software into the design and code in the Rational Rhapsody development environment and back again. In the past, the company performed this tracing manually, which typically took one or two people up to two weeks. Using the Rational software, this process is completely automated, taking about 10 minutes.

Significantly improving development efficiency

By adopting the modular approach to software development, the company significantly improved efficiency, making it faster and easier to certify new products for DO-178B and DO-178C compliance. By combining software modules that were certified in the past, the company can quickly create a new software product. Quality assurance staff can skip unit testing and move straight to integration testing, cutting testing efforts by more than 80 percent.

In addition to decreasing testing time, the modular approach streamlines development through reuse. the company estimates that by using existing software modules, it reduced development time by 20 percent, resulting in faster time to market. “This is the first time that we’re able to develop and move into the testing phase in only one year,” says the senior software engineer. “What this means is that we have reduced time to market because we can deliver more robust and high-quality software than before simply because we have shortened the certification phase,” he says.

For more information

To learn more about IBM Rational software, please contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the following website: ibm.com/rational

Additionally, IBM Global Financing can help you acquire the software capabilities that your business needs in the most cost-effective and strategic way possible. We'll partner with credit-qualified clients to customize a financing solution to suit your business and development goals, enable effective cash management, and improve your total cost of ownership. Fund your critical IT investment and propel your business forward with IBM Global Financing. For more information, visit: ibm.com/financing