July 24, 2012 -- Esterel Technologies, Inc. today announced the SCADE LifeCycle Qualified Test Environment (QTE) and its interface with the LDRA tool suite.

SCADE LifeCycle QTE is a module that allows developers of certifiable applications using SCADE Suite to automate the running of test cases created during model-based verification activities on host and on target, thus allowing a complete verification workflow from high-level requirements-based testing on model down to integration testing on target. With SCADE LifeCycle QTE, conformity report generation and model coverage measure are automated, enabling significant time and cost savings over manual testing.

Developers of certifiable applications using SCADE Suite for model-based application development and SCADE LifeCycle QTE for verification activities, have an integrated flow providing for full benefit of both a model-based approach and cost-effective testing environment.

"SCADE LifeCycle QTE allows users to efficiently achieve the objectives related to model-based verification on host and software testing on target, as defined in the Model-Based Development and Verification Supplement to DO-178C," states Bernard Dion, CTO of Esterel Technologies and member of the SC-205/WG-71 committee that defined the new standard.

Integration with LDRA

SCADE Lifecycle QTE for LDRA integrates model-based application development with SCADE Suite and the LDRA tool suite. On-target testing is required to achieve the most rigorous levels of DO-178C compliance. The LDRA tool suite has been fine-tuned to provide automated, on-target testing to validate that software execution behaves as expected.

Model-based applications developed with SCADE Suite can now be automatically passed to TBrun, the unit-testing component in the LDRA tool suite, which ensures that the embedded application is running as expected on the target. The same tests can automatically be reused on both host and target, significantly reducing the effort typically used to generate and prove tests during both phases of development and final verification on target.

"Rigorous standards, such as DO-178C, require independent verification of the code to confirm the code behaves as expected," noted Ian Hennell, LDRA Operations Director. "With Esterel's reputation for generating high-quality code and LDRA's expertise in requirements traceability and verification, developers gain a significant improvement in code quality. By automating this level of code development and verification, much of the error-prone and labor-intensive activity is minimized, ensuring better results."

"With SCADE LifeCycle QTE for LDRA, developers of safety-critical applications now have an automated and complete solution for verification on host and testing on target with the integration of SCADE Suite KCG, SCADE Suite's qualifiable code generator, SCADE Suite MTC, SCADE Suite's model coverage-analysis tool, and the LDRA tool suite for target testing. The combined offerings save time and effort throughout the development cycle. With the upcoming adoption of DO-178C by major avionics certification authorities, developers can now benefit from a cohesive development, verification and testing strategy for both model-based and legacy code," stated Eric Bantegnie, President and CEO of Esterel Technologies.

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