For any connected systems, requirements don’t just change in an orderly manner during development. They change without warning - whenever some smart Alec finds a new vulnerability, develops a new hack, or compromises the system. And they keep on changing throughout the lifetime of the device.

For that reason, the ability of next-generation automated management and requirements traceability tools and techniques to create relationships between requirements, code, static and dynamic analysis results, and unit- and system-level tests is especially valuable for connected systems. Even after product release, they present a vital competitive advantage in the ability to respond quickly and effectively whenever security is compromised. The handling of such change is highlighted by both ISO 13849 and IEC 61508 development lifecycle, where the objectives are more extensive and more precisely defined.

Many software modifications will require changes to the existing software functionality – perhaps with regards to additional utilities in the software. In such circumstances, it is important to ensure that any changes made or additions to the software do not adversely affect the existing code.

The TBmanager component of the LDRA tool suite helps alleviate this concern by automatically maintaining the connections between the requirements, development, and testing artefacts. activities, and highlighting where rework is required (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Showing functions requiring retest with a red “spot” in the TBmanager component of the LDRA tool suite

The connected system – a new significance for system maintenance