COTS software design minimizes ATS lifecycle cost

Author

Neag, Ion A.

Author_Institution

TYX Corp., Reston, VA, USA

Volume

19

Issue

6

fYear

2004

fDate

6/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

29

Lastpage

34

Abstract

This paper identifies the design features of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software that impact the lifecycle cost of automatic test system (ATS) solutions and provides a set of design guidelines. It demonstrates that the architecture of COTS software must be modular, based on correct functional allocation, should possess distribution capabilities, and contain open interfaces that remain backwards compatible. In the case of COTS development tools, the programmatic interface should be simple, extensible, and enforced in the development environment.

Keywords

automatic test equipment; life cycle costing; software architecture; software reusability; ATS lifecycle cost; COTS development tools; COTS software architecture; COTS software design; automatic test system; backwards compatible; commercial-off-the-shelf; development environment; distribution capabilities; functional allocation; open interfaces; programmatic interface; Application software; Automatic testing; Computer architecture; Costs; Guidelines; Instruments; Software architecture; Software design; Software testing; System testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8985

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MAES.2004.1308832

Filename

1308832