Norman F. Schneidewind
Overview of IEEE P1633\AIAA Standard for Software Reliability
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Building 3 Auditorium - 3:30 PM
(Refreshments at 3:00 PM)

Professor Norman F. Schneidewind, will talk about Overview of IEEE P1633\AIAA Standard for Software Reliability. This standard prescribes the methods for assessing and predicting the reliability of software, based on a life cycle approach to software reliability engineering. It provides information necessary for the application of software reliability measurement to a project, lays a foundation for building consistent methods, and establishes the basic principle for collecting the data needed to assess and predict the reliability of software. The document prescribes how any user can participate in on-going, software reliability assessments and predictions.

Software Reliability Engineering (SRE) is an established discipline that can help organizations improve the reliability of their products and processes. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) defines SRE as "the application of statistical techniques to data collected during system development and operation to specify, predict, estimate, and assess the reliability of software-based systems." The standard is a composite of models, and tools and describes the "what and how" of software reliability engineering. It is important for an organization to have a disciplined process if it is to produce high reliability software. The standard is described and how it is enhanced to include a life cycle approach to SRE that takes into account the risk to reliability of requirements changes. A requirements change may induce ambiguity and uncertainty in the development process that cause errors in implementing the changes. Subsequently, these errors propagate through later phases of development and maintenance. These errors may result in significant risks associated with implementing the requirements. For example, reliability risk (i.e., risk of faults and failures induced by changes in requirements) may be incurred by deficiencies in the process (e.g., lack of precision in requirements).

Norman F. Schneidewind is Professor of Information Sciences and Director of the Software Metrics Lab in the Department of Information Sciences and the Software Engineering Group at the Naval Postgraduate School. He served as Chair of the Faculty Council for 2004. Dr. Schneidewind was selected for an IEEE USA Congressional Fellowship for 2005 and will be working with the Democratic Subcommittee Staff Director, Subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget and International Security, Governmental Affairs Committee, United States Senate, focusing on homeland security.

Dr. Schneidewind is a Fellow of the IEEE, elected in 1992 for "contributions to software measurement models in reliability and metrics, and for leadership in advancing the field of software maintenance". In 2001, he received the IEEE "Reliability Engineer of the Year" award from the IEEE Reliability Society. Dr. Schneidewind has been interviewed by several organizations regarding his work in software reliability, including the New York Times article, which was published on 7 February 2003, about the Space Shuttle software development process in conjunction with the Columbia tragedy and by the Associated Press about the same subject. In 1993 and 1999, he received awards for Outstanding Research Achievement by the Naval Postgraduate School. He is the developer of the Schneidewind software reliability model that is used by NASA to assist in the prediction of software reliability of the Space Shuttle. This model is one of the models recommended by the American National Standards Institute and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Recommended Practice for Software Reliability.

IS&T Colloquium Committee Host: John Dorband,
John.E.Dorband@nasa.gov

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