Aerospace & Defense Technology - August 2024 - 12

Sponsored Content
INSIDE STORY
For 30 years, AdaCore has provided the tools needed to build reliable, safe, and secure software. The
Ada programming language and the open source software movement are central to AdaCore. AdaCore
staff have directly contributed to the Ada language design and have helped shape its evolution, from
the original definition of the language standard up to the current version. In this interview, Benjamin
Brosgol, Technical Writer at AdaCore, explains that while we support an expanding list of languages,
Ada's " think first, code later " methodology remains at the heart of our philosophy and approach.
Aerospace & Defense Technology (A&DT): Why is Ada so
important as a language in defense applications?
Benjamin Brogosol: The Ada programming
language was initially designed
following a contract from the
United States Department of Defense
(DoD) from 1977 to 1983 as a single,
everyday language to save software life
cycle costs. At that time, more than 450
programming languages and dialects
were in use within the DoD, and porting
software across platforms was expensive.
Further, most of these languages were designed years or decades
earlier, before significant breakthroughs in software development
methodology (e.g., structured programming, information
hiding, object orientation). Ada (named for Augusta Ada Lovelace,
considered the world's first programmer) was designed to incorporate
these advances and to serve as a common language across
DoD and within the defense establishments of allied countries.
Ada has become widely adopted by developers of high-integrity
military applications. It is designed specifically for large,
long-lived applications where reliability, efficiency, safety, security,
and source code portability across platforms are vital.
Military applications are unique in combining high safety
stakes and system criticality with maintenance requirements
and service life spanning decades. Software systems often
need to be ported across generations of hardware and require
development environments that provide excellent portability
and stability.
Over the past decade, cybersecurity attacks have become an
ever-increasing threat. These attacks have introduced a new
level of effort required to produce a system that can maintain
its required and expected integrity level. Analysis technologies
are becoming critical to assist developers in ensuring that their
software is exempt from vulnerabilities that could be used as a
backdoor by a potential attacker.
A&DT: What about certification? Why is this important?
Brogosol: Certification is paramount within military systems due
to the high stakes associated with software reliability and safety
in these applications. Ensuring software meets stringent certification
standards, such as DO-178 for commercial aviation or
similar standards in other domains, is crucial for several reasons.
Certification provides confidence in safety commensurate
with the system's level of criticality. Software failures can have
dire consequences in military contexts, including loss of life,
mission failure, and significant strategic and financial repercussions.
Certification processes involve rigorous testing and other
12
verification processes to ensure that software performs reliably
under all conditions.
Secondly, certification ensures compliance with industry regulations
and standards. Meeting these standards is often a prerequisite
for deploying systems in regulated environments, facilitating
the acceptance and integration of software in military operations.
Thirdly, certification enhances reliability and maintainability. The
structured, methodical approach for certification promotes thorough
documentation and systematic verification, making the software
easier to maintain and upgrade. This is particularly important
in military systems, which often have long life cycles and need
regular updates to address evolving threats and requirements.
A&DT: How does DO-178 apply to the work you do at AdaCore?
Brogosol: DO-178, officially known as Software Considerations
in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification, is a standard
that ensures aviation software meets rigorous safety levels. It
is required for commercial aviation and is also seeing increased
adoption in the military sector.
With its strong typing, modularity, and run-time checking, the
Ada programming language meets the high-assurance requirements
of DO-178 certification.
Software verification tools are also valuable, especially those
that allow the developer to trust the tool's output without manually
checking its correctness. These could include stack usage
analyzers, dynamic coverage analyzers, code standard enforcers,
and static analysis tools that find logic and coding errors.
A&DT: What are your views on the FACE effort?
Brogosol: The Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE™)
effort is a government-industry initiative for reducing defense
system life cycle costs through portable and reusable software
components.
The FACE architecture defines an operating environment
that enhances interoperability among airborne computing systems
across different platforms and branches of the military.
One primary benefit of the FACE approach is interoperability.
By adhering to a standardized architecture, different systems and
components can seamlessly work together, facilitating easier integration
and collaboration across various military platforms. This
is particularly important for mission-critical operations where
coordinated efforts between units and technologies are essential.
Additionally, the FACE approach promotes modularity and
reusability of software components. This means that systems
can be upgraded or modified with minimal disruption, enhancing
the flexibility and longevity of military software applications.
For more information, visit AdaCore at www.adacore.com.
mobilityengineeringtech.com
Aerospace & Defense Technology, August 2024

http://info.hotims.com/86258-721 https://mobilityengineeringtech.com

Aerospace & Defense Technology - August 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace & Defense Technology - August 2024