Software Robustness Verification Framework (SRVF): Validating the Critical Software Module

With the advancement of inbuilt electronics and intelligent controls, automotive and other industries are looking at efficient usage of ECUs with intelligent electronic modules and more of critical functions implemented by software. Robustness of the software involved is always critical to the ECUs health, so software engineers are tasked to ensure the same by following right development and validation life cycle. Enabling the multiple decision by single software module makes verification & validation challenging, complex and time consuming. To insure the robustness of these software module, the predictable verification & validation process, which is followed by most of the industries, deals with specific standard if it is safety critical application to aid test coverage with respect to dynamic responses & function associated. Hence iterative verification & validation approach against the gaps/fixes identified during unit level, model-in-loop, hardware-in-loop & system integration test. This paper summarizes a software robustness verification framework (SRVF) which can be followed for critical software module upfront by the verification & validation engineers to build inherent robustness in the software module. This specific methodology comprises of Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) as part of complete requirement strategy & structured experimentation such as System Behavioural Testing (SBT) to enable enhanced test coverage against dynamic responses. This paper does not supersede the typical industry standards being followed for software development life cycle but showcase a recommended practice which can be followed to enhance the robustness of the software module. A case study on the deployment of SRVF on a critical software module has been presented in this paper. Keywords -Software Module, SRVF, FMEA, SBT