Managing evolving hardware and software requirements

Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support (LM-STS) has designed and fielded the LM-STAR^reg family of test systems to numerous customers to meet their production delivery schedules. The LM-STAR systems test avionics and other electronic systems and subsystems in factories and depots on multiple U.S. and International platforms supplying the end user with accurate fault diagnostics to repair Units Under Test (UUT). Galileo Avionica has acquired an LM-STAR system for their production facility and have successfully rehosted legacy Test Program Sets (TPS) from the Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) to LM-STAR. Galileo Avionica needed a new variant of LM-STAR to support the unique new requirements of their customer. The system needed to be expandable and flexible to meet these needs, and system performance had to be optimized for high speed synchronous/asynchronous data I/O. The new configuration posed many technological challenges from both a hardware and software standpoint that had to be overcome. An aggressive schedule coupled with limited budget presented obstacles. The project also had dynamic test requirements. This paper will describe how a project can still meet time-to-market, cost, and quality objectives while addressing a myriad of requirement changes without spiraling out of control.