Software Engineering Institute

This conference paper was published in the Proceedings of the AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Unmanned...Unlimited Conference in 2009.

Model-based software quality assurance (MB-SQA) provides a rigorous framework for the verification and validation of software systems through the systematic modeling and analysis of formal architecture representations. This paper describes the results of applying an MB-SQA practice framework that utilizes the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL) to JPL's Mission Data System (MDS) reference architecture. The MDS is a unified reference architecture for space mission flight, ground, and test systems. In the case study, the AADL assurance practice framework and several AADL-based analyses were applied to the evaluation of critical quality attributes of the MDS reference architecture as well as an MDS adaptation for the control of a heated camera. The results of the case study demonstrate the utility of the practice framework and the AADL-based analyses in addressing (1) the modeling of key MDS architectural themes and (2) quality assurance with respect to performance, particularly flow latency.