Mike Whalen - Getting in Really Right--Software Development for Highly Critical Systems

January 5, 2006

Location: University of Minnesota, EE/CS Building - Room 3 - 125

Twin-SPIN
For the Minneapolis/St. Paul Regional Area

Meeting Announcement:

Thursday, January 5, 2006
6:00-8:00 p.m. at The University of Minnesota 6:00 start for
networking, 6:30 start for meeting.

EE/CS Building
Room 3 - 125
Minneapolis, MN

Directions:
A map is available at http://onestop.umn.edu/Maps/EE/CSci/ Check out the detailed map under the "close up" button.

This Month's Meeting:

Program Manager: Mats Heimdahl

Topic: Getting in Really Right--Software Development for Highly Critical Systems

Speaker: Mike Whalen, Senior Software Engineer for Rockwell Collins Inc

Abstract:

How do you construct software and systems in which failure is truly not an option? How do you test a system when a bug can kill? This is the problem faced by developers in several industries, including avionics, space, and medical technologies. DO178B is a software development standard that is used by the avionics industry to develop critical software. Through the use of a very rigorous and well-documented development process, DO178B attempts to define processes that will ensure that software systems will act correctly and safely in their intended environment. This talk provides an overview of the DO178B standard, focusing on the planning, verification, and QA portions, and provides some insight into how software is developed in the avionics industry.

Mike Whalen Bio:

Mike Whalen is a Senior Software Engineer for Rockwell Collins Inc, and is a liason between Rockwell Collins and the University of Minnesota. Mike earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, and is the author of 15 papers on various software engineering topics including Model-based development, proof-carrying code and compiler correctness. He has 11 years experience in software development and 8 years experience creating and using model-based development environments.
Mike is interested in modeling and analyzing the behavior of complex software systems. His group at Rockwell Collins recently completed the formal analysis of the ADGS-2100 Adaptive Display and Guidance System Window Manager using model checking tools, the first significant use of this technology on a critical avionics system. He is currently researching novel uses of model-checking, theorem proving, random search simulation tools, and test generation to reduce the cost and manual effort required for systems and software validation for critical systems.