Modular software development for railway applications

摘要

Software (SW) development is figuring ever more prominently in the value chain connected with efforts aimed at advancing the state of the art in railway engineering. It is becoming increasingly impossible to deliver complex safety functions and comfort-and-convenience features through hardware (HW) alone. In addition, SW components offer faster, more diverse customising options. However, it is precisely this diversity of variants for different customers that requires ae flexible approach to development; i.e. a method that makes the most of synergies among the individual end products. New operating challenges are emerging as the share of SW grows; for example, how to deploy bug fixes in order to eliminate faults and vulnerabilities in the application. Developmental efforts generally have to be streamlined for efficient approval and fast certification in order to be able to hold up under the pressure of tight schedules and budgets. This places great demands on potential solutions. For example, they have to be highly automated and variable and support incremental development. The following article describes how a modular approach to SW development can help address this issue.