Critical-Systems Processes for Non-Critical Projects. The critical-systems development process can benefit non-critical applications, such as commercial and general government/military applications, where reliability and safety are not mandated.

Full-Lifecycle Development for DO-178B. AVISTA's project for a commercial regional and corporate jet product included designing and developing the ARINC-429 communications interface and ARINC-739A protocol system.

AVISTA Expands Corporate Headquarters. To support its corporate growth, AVISTA is expanding operations in Wisconsin and plans to hire more engineers. Learn more.

Life-Critical Software Certification. While many software lifecycle activities play an important role in ensuring safety of a medical device, verification and validation activities serve as the gatekeeper against defects.

AVISTA Brain Candy. AVISTA continues the cartoon series from Mark Anderson, poking fun at some of the particulars of software development and office life in general.

February 2008

Getting Involved to Get Ahead
With the many challenges facing software development, including functional, technological, standards/certification, staffing/resources etc., it is crucial to drive for new solutions to problems and push for technology advancements. AVISTA Incorporated is actively involved in our own community through philanthropic and volunteer programs. At the same time, as part of our commitment to safety-critical and cutting-edge software, AVISTA is also actively engaged with several industry organizations and committees to advance and improve the embedded software used in avionics, medical device and government/military applications. We work with these groups to make software safer, more reliable and to reduce clients' time-to-market.

While AVISTA, like other companies, is involved with groups such as the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), and RTCA (formerly known as the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics), we believe participation in these organizations establishes important, positive changes. AVISTA also provides industry leadership through our active involvement in standards development, such as the DO-178C Working Group. The DO-178C guideline is in development, and will succeed the current DO-178B and DO-248B guidelines for development of aviation software.

The active participation of our team in industry groups is a testament to their passion for advancing technology and staying on top of the latest developments in the industry. Our team members have also been involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI), including attaining Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. This improves their own program management and technical skills, while also helping them engage in dialog with other industry professionals to drive for industry solutions.

I want to encourage you to get actively involved in these types of job-specific or industry groups to help advance your career, your company and the industry as a whole.

Jim Schneller
President
AVISTA Incorporated

Critical-Systems Processes for Non-Critical Projects

Software for systems used in avionics, weapons systems, medical devices, nuclear systems, and other safety-critical systems poses unique concerns about safety and reliability because of the life-critical nature of these products. These critical applications have strict process requirements for development, verification/validation, traceability and independence. The benefits of the rigorous development and verification processes are improved performance, safety, reliability, and reduced risk. The critical-systems development process can also benefit non-critical applications, such as commercial and general government/military applications, where reliability and safety are not mandated.

Certification-based development, verification/validation and traceability processes can benefit other applications.

The discipline of quality and culture of team-collaborative development provides a general template for successful engineering practices. While cost considerations must be weighed, organizations who leverage part or all of these disciplines can find themselves in positions of competitive advantage and improved market positions. The business payoff is significant for all parties, and the resulting quality of the end-product is good for developers and users.

AVISTA will present this topic at the upcoming SEPG North America conference March 17-19, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. If you have a non-critical system project where you'd like to learn more about how safety-critical software development processes can improve software quality and reliability, as well as improving team process, let us know at avista@avistainc.com.

Full-Lifecycle Development for DO-178B, Level A Communications System

AVISTA works on many different full- and partial-lifecycle development projects for avionics, medical, and government/military applications. Over the last few years there has been an increase in commercial avionics systems projects, particularly for regional jets. One AVISTA project for a commercial regional and corporate jet product involved designing and developing the ARINC-429 communications interface and ARINC-739A protocol system.

AVISTA’s software engineers designed and developed the software for DO-178B, Level A certification requirements. This C programming language project was a bit different since it required significant ARINC-429 experience. AVISTA's ARINC-429 and extensive ARINC-739A experience with control and display systems helped the manufacturer deliver this product to market quickly. Once the software was complete, AVISTA also worked with the client to integrate it with the overall application for system verification testing.

If you're looking to more efficiently manage your next software development program and want expert full-lifecycle software development resources, please contact us. EMAIL AVISTA has extensive full-lifecycle development experience with on-board avionics and mission planning systems, as well as medical, government and military applications.

AVISTA Expands Corporate Headquarters

To support its corporate growth, AVISTA is expanding operations in Wisconsin and plans to hire around 40 more engineers. After four years of continuous growth, particularly in commercial avionics, and government/military programs, we have outgrown our corporate headquarters in Platteville, Wisconsin. We currently have nearly 150 engineers at facilities in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

AVISTA was the first company to build in the Platteville Industrial Park back in 1989.

Work has already started on developing the new office space to support our expanded engineering staff, including new conference meeting space and a new secure software/hardware engineering lab. The new office space is in the Platteville Business Incubator in the Platteville Industrial Park and we expect to move in during the first half of the year.

For more information on this development, or to discuss AVISTA's new lab facilities for your next program, please contact us at avista@avistainc.com.

Life-Critical Software Certification – Medical Devices

Software has become the heart of many electronic medical devices on the market today. A little over ten years ago, Europe and the United States published new rules for the quality of embedded software in programmable electronic medical devices. The European standard is IEC/EN 60601-1-4, and its American counterpart is FDA 510(k).

Certification standards for programmable electronic medical devices are:

• Europe - IEC/EN 60601-1-4

• United State - FDA 510(k)

A key element of the rules governing software for electronic medical devices is the risk to patient or user of the equipment. While many software lifecycle activities play an important role in ensuring safety of a device, verification and validation activities serve as the gatekeeper to ensure defects are discovered, reported, and resolved prior to market release.

There are a few important steps that will help ensure a successful medical device software certification project. First, make an extra effort to create well written requirements, and review them for accuracy, completeness, and testability prior to the development of requirements-based tests. Next, using an independent quality assurance team also helps ensure a rigorous verification and validation process. Finally, solid up-front planning also helps ensure a safe system and streamlines the vital verification and validation work. While these are a good ideas for all software development projects, careful execution on these steps is the more critical for medical devices.

Since the FDA 510(k) standard does not prescribe a specific software development lifecycle, manufacturers must identify and follow processes that make sense for their product. If you're planning a medical device project and want software consulting and development support, please contact us early in the planning process. Whether or not you decide to outsource, AVISTA's team can help with initial software planning to make your project a success. Contact AVISTA today at avista@avistainc.com.

AVISTA Brain Candy

We think safety-critical software engineering is serious work, but we also like a good laugh. Our cartoonist, Mark Anderson, pokes fun at some of the particulars of software development and office life in general.