Software dependability assessment and control - State of the art

Software consideration in safety cases led by ANSP (Air Navigation Services Providers) is a new feature introduced by Regulation EC 482/2008 published on May 1st, 2008. Up to now, if these studies attempted to demonstrate that the hardware part of systems is reliable, they did not still integrate a demonstration of a justified confidence in the fact that the software is safe. This component is made mandatory through the publication of this new regulation (EC 482/2008).

The purpose of this state of the art is to make a point, not only on existing methods of evaluation of the safety of software (determination of a software reliability or process approach), but also on tools allowing to provide the justified confidence in this safety.