An Ontology Based Approach to the Software Engineering Lifecycle: Application to Software Quality Assurance in the Aerospace Industry

Abstract

The software quality assurance discipline is necessary in all domains where software is employed; principally so, where risks may involve the loss of human life, like that of the aerospace industry. Ontologies exist for a plethora of domains, including those within software development, like requirements elicitation and testing. These ontologies have found use in a variety of applications, most notably in assuring traceability of software requirements and in test automation. However, no ontology of software quality assurance exists in use. In this paper is presented a state-of-the-art literature review of ontologies applied to the software engineering lifecycle where modern aerospace projects reside. A proposal for an ontology of software quality assurance is also presented and framed with respect to the aerospace industry.

Keywords: software engineering, software quality assurance, ontology, aerospace