LDRA Delivers ISO 26262 Compliance for Automakers


Integration within LDRA tool suite extends compliance to run-time error prevention and requirements traceability

Wirral, UK, - LDRA, the leading provider of automated software verification, source code analysis, and test tools, supports the current implementation of ISO/DIS 26262, a functional safety standard for road vehicles. With the increased use of electronic systems, the ISO 26262 draft addresses safety concerns specific to the electrical, electronic and programmable electronic (E/E/PE) systems in vehicles. LDRA's early adoption of automotive standards demonstrates the company's strong commitment to helping automakers improve software quality and decrease the tremendous cost of recalls and vehicle warranties.

The ISO/DIS 26262 standard establishes the level of safety risk for a system or system component using four levels (A-D) of Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL) where Level D represents the highest risk with the most stringent safety requirements. ISO/DIS 26262 translates these safety integrity levels into software-specific objectives that must be satisfied during development. An assigned ASIL therefore determines the level of effort required to show compliance to the standard. It requires greater effort and expense to comply with higher D-level components when producing a system critical to the continued safe operation of an automobile (e.g., a steer-by-wire) than to produce a system with only a minor impact in the case of a failure (e.g., in-car entertainment).

"With the number of recalls plaguing the automotive community, it's clear that managing the shift from mechanical to software components has proved challenging," noted Ian Hennell, LDRA Operations Director. "LDRA is strongly committed to providing development teams with tools and process support that ensures they can meet current software quality standards. Our implementation of ISO/DIS 26262 complements our mature solutions for MISRA-C and MISRA-C++ compliance, as well as providing code coverage metrics that ensure each line of code has been fully tested and verified and will not introduce unexpected errors after deployment."

Reaching beyond simple standards checking, the LDRA tool suite automatically checks compliance to the ISO 26262 standard through all stages of the software development lifecycle. In addition to the usual rule compliance checking, code complexity metrics, code coverage metrics (including statement, branch/decision and MC/DC), dataflow analysis and host/target testing, the LDRA tool suite extends ISO 26262 compliance to run-time error prevention and system requirements traceability down to the processor level. LDRA supports ISO 26262 across the entire software lifecycle from requirements through coding, analysis, and verification. With automated documentation, proof of compliance is included throughout all stages of development.

"Standards compliance hinges fundamentally on good programming practice," added Hennell. "LDRA is committed to helping the automotive industry achieve quality software that is understandable, testable, maintainable, reliable and validated. Only by integrating these fundamentals into current processes can automakers improve software quality and significantly slash the heavy costs of vehicle recalls and warranty support."

To launch its support of ISO/DIS 26262, LDRA is providing an in depth webinar and white paper. To learn more about LDRA's support of ISO/DIS 26262:

o Download the ISO/DIS 26262 white paper at www.ldra.com/iso26262.asp.
o Join the ISO/DIS 26262 webinar running live on November 17, 2010. Registration details are available at www.ldra.com/webinars.asp

About LDRA

For more than thirty years, LDRA has developed and driven the market for software that automates code analysis and software testing for safety-, mission-, security- and business- critical markets. Working with clients to achieve early error identification and full compliance with industry standards, LDRA traces requirements through static and dynamic analysis to unit testing and verification for a wide variety of hardware and software platforms. Boasting a worldwide presence, LDRA is headquartered in the UK with subsidiaries in the United States and an extensive distributor network. For more information on the LDRA tool suite, please visit: www.ldra.com.
Media contacts:

Mark James,
LDRA,
Marketing Manager
Tel: +44 (0)151 649 9300,
Email: mark.james@ldra.com

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