Helmut Kindermann (left), Executive Director of iSYSTEM, and Ian Hennel, Director of Operations LDRA [click for enlarged view]

iSystem, a german manufacturer of emulation and test tools for use in the development of embedded applications and LDRA, a UK company, have today announced a Technology Partnership. It covers the integration of the emulation and debug technology of iSystem into the Testbed tool suite from the English manufacturer as well as distribution of the total solution in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Through this collaboration both partners are responding to demands, particularly from the automotive industry, to provide a set of comprehenisve development tools specifically designed for their types of systems but which will also meet the needs of the aerospace and other safety critical industries. In these sectors manufacturers strive to align, as far as is possible, the different tools used in the different elements of the development process for an embedded system. Up until now both partners have targeted strictly separate areas of the development process: iSystem worked in the area of software development to help the end-user with the integration of their software and hardware, whilst LDRA concentrated on the automation of code analysis and software testing.

The primary benefit for developers of embedded systems that comes from this co-operation between the two companies is an automated method of performing dynamic code analysis and unit testing in the target system environment through the host testing integration with the emulation and debug technology. In addition the LDRA tool suite is able to perform Static Code Analysis, Design and Quality Reviews as well as Requirements Tracking and Inspection against standards such as MISRA C, MISRA C: 2004, RTCA/DO-178B. This is one of the most comprehensive tool suites currently available on the market. Source code written in C,C++ as well as Ada 83 and 95 is supported.

MISRA-C/MISRA-C:2004

In 1998 the Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (MISRA) published a document called "Guidelines For The Use Of The C Language In Vehicle Based Software". This document was produced, in order to promote the use of “Safe C” for systems used in the automotive industry, according to MISRA these systems are classified as safety integrity levels 2 or 3. The standard found a broad acceptance within the automotive industry. It also became highly regarded in other industries where it became the basis for implementing good quality code for critical systems. MISRA -C: 2004 was comprehensively revised by the industry in conjunction with the tool suppliers. As a leading supplier of software analysis tools, such as those used to examine the MISRA standard, LDRA took a leading role in this revision and its proven tools have been adapted to support the new and revised MISRA-C: 2004 standard.

RTCA/DO-178B

The “International Avionics Standard” for safety critical software, RTCA/DO-178B “Software considerations in airborne system and equipment certification requirement”, involves adherence to very strict dynamic coverage requirements. The LDRA family of tools makes available to companies around the globe a comprehensive set of functions permitting them to examine the adherence of their software to these DO-178B requirements. As the implementation of DO-178B becomes ever more important, it is imperative that the choice of tool, which companies use to show that their software adheres to these rules, is based on a proven far-reaching expert assessment. The LDRA tool suite represents an established solution that has been used to prove the conformity of both air and ground based systems to DO-178B requirements.