1. Agile Usage in Embedded Software Development in Safety Critical Domain–A Systematic Review

2. Surafel Demissie, Frank Keenan, Özden Özcan-Top and Fergal McCaffery

3. Introduction Motivation The Review Protocol Results
Research Questions
Search Strings
Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
Results
Conclusion/Future Work
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4. Embedded Systems
Embedded Systems (ES) are composed of two basic components: hardware and software.
Hardware - microprocessor or microcontroller, memory, input output (I/O) interfaces as well as the user interface.
Software – embedded inside the memory.
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5. Embedded Software constraints
uses specialized hardware
is often co-developed with the hardware
constrains the selection of programming languages and tools
has a more challenging testing environment
must often be highly predictable
has sresource constraints such as memory
must often be very highly reliable
is often subject to rigorous external regulation
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6. Motivation
For safety critical products both technical challenges and regulation challenges have be dealt with
Agile software development practices can be adopted to deal with these challenges
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7. The approach
We performed a systematic literature review (SLR) to achieve the following purposes
To reveal the challenges of embedded safety critical software development in practice,
To investigate the agile practices in use in the embedded safety critical software development
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8. The Review Protocol Research Questions
RQ1: What are the challenges of implementing agile in embedded software development?
RQ2: Which agile practices have been used in development of embedded software in safety critical domains?
RQ2.1: How are agile practices extended to address the challenges of embedded safety critical domains?
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9. (“embedded” OR “embedded system” OR “embedded software”)
The Review Protocol*
*Kitchenham, B., Charters, S.: Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. Engineering 2, 1051 (2007)
Search Strings
(“agile” OR “scrum” OR “XP” OR “extreme programming” OR “test driven development” OR “TDD” OR “lean” OR “DevOps” OR “feature driven development”)
AND
(“embedded” OR “embedded system” OR “embedded software”)
(“Safety critical”)
Digital libraries
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10. The Review Protocol Inclusion Criteria Exclusion criteria
Studies on agile implementation for embedded software and embedded system development.
Studies on agile implementation for embedded safety critical systems.
Exclusion criteria
Studies discussing general agile software development practices (non-embedded).
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11. Results - Screening
Organization of the studies were managed using a spreadsheet and Mendeley
Title and Abstract
Inclusion and exclusion
criteria
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12. Safety critical domains
Automotive,
Medical/healthcare,
Aircraft
Mechatronics
The majority of these studies are case studies and experience papers
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13. RQ-1
The challenges related to agile implementation in embedded safety critical domains
Hardware development mostly cause long feedback loops as hardware loops will be longer than the software development loops.
The communication between diversified team members with domain specific knowledge can be difficult
Regulatory standards is a barrier in front of implementing some of the agile practices: continuous delivery
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14. RQ-2
Agile practices which are in use in development of embedded software in safety critical domains
Scrum and XP
Iterative Development/ Small release
User Stories
Planning game
Unit testing
Refactoring
Pair Programming
Sprint Planning
Sprint Review/Retrospective
Story Points Estimation
Recent trends towards the implementation of practices from DevOps, Lean and Scaled Agile Framework.
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15. RQ-2 cont’d
Agile practices which are in use in development of embedded software in safety critical domains
Model Storming
Executable Requirements
Test Driven Development
Continuous Integration
Recent trends towards the implementation of practices from DevOps, Lean and Scaled Agile Framework.
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16. (RQ2 -1)
How agile practices have been extended to address the challenges
Scrum and XP practices are combined with other development technologies:
Platform-based design approach
Model driven development
Risk assessment/hazard analysis techniques are applied to ensure safety of the products
End-to-end traceability is ensured to track a work item from its initiation to its closure
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17. Conclusion
This review provided information for practitioners in understanding the challenges related to agile implementation and the way in which agile practices have been implemented to address the challenges.
The embedded safety critical domain can benefit implementing agile software development practices
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18. Thank you
This work was supported by the Science Foundation Ireland grant 13/RC/2094 and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund through the Southern & Eastern Regional Operational Programme to Lero - the Irish Software Research Centre (