Validation.
It’s a nice thing when you can get it. We may have unintentionally gained just a
little today in a sideways sort of way.

A hallmark characteristic of the OSDV Foundation’s work is the unique (and challenging) interdisciplinary
approach to our work: the application of high
assurance engineering with open source methods. Sure, it’s sort of a yin-yang relationship:
the highly methodical disciplined approach to single-purpose component and
device design meets the chaotic, highly agile and sometimes unstructured approach
to software (and hardware) design and
development.

Yesterday, NASA
reportedly announced
a mandate for the use of open source specifications in next-generation avionics
system. The avionics system will guide rockets responsible for launching the manned Orion spacecraft into Earth
orbit and on to the moon.

Given that,
similar to the military, NASA and its
contractors are the best examples of engineers using high assurance methodologies
this seems like a fair example of what we’ve been suggesting all along: that the
OSDV Foundation can, in fact, employ high assurance methodologies under an
open-source mandate. It does suggest a
high degree of clear specification is imperative.

Other than
that, I call this at least a small validation. Nice.

GAM|out

Tags: Commentary, Open Source