Investigation of an OSLC-domain targeting ISO 26262 : Focus on the left side of the Software V-model

Abstract:

Industries have adopted a standardized set of practices for developing their products. In the automotive domain, the provision of safety-compliant systems is guided by ISO 26262, a standard that specifies a set of requirements and recommendations for developing automotive safety-critical systems. For being in compliance with ISO 26262, the safety lifecycle proposed by the standard must be included in the development process of a vehicle. Besides, a safety case that shows that the system is acceptably safe has to be provided. The provision of a safety case implies the execution of a precise documentation process. This process makes sure that the work products are available and traceable. Further, the documentation management is defined in the standard as a mandatory activity and guidelines are proposed/imposed for its elaboration. It would be appropriate to point out that a well-documented safety lifecycle will provide the necessary inputs for the generation of an ISO 26262-compliant safety case. The OSLC (Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration) standard and the maturing stack of semantic web technologies represent a promising integration platform for enabling semantic interoperability between the tools involved in the safety lifecycle. Tools for requirements, architecture, development management, among others, are expected to interact and shared data with the help of domains specifications created in OSLC.This thesis proposes the creation of an OSLC tool-chain infrastructure for sharing safety-related information, where fragments of safety information can be generated. The steps carried out during the elaboration of this master thesis consist in the identification, representation, and shaping of the RDF resources needed for the creation of a safety case. The focus of the thesis is limited to a tiny portion of the ISO 26262 left-hand side of the V-model, more exactly part 6 clause 8 of the standard:  Software unit design and implementation. Regardless of the use of a restricted portion of the standard during the execution of this thesis, the findings can be extended to other parts, and the conclusions can be generalize.This master thesis is considered one of the first steps towards the provision of an OSLC-based and ISO 26262-compliant methodological approach for representing and shaping the work products resulting from the execution of the safety lifecycle, documentation required in the conformation of an ISO-compliant safety case.