The Safety-Critical Software and Control group in CTAE is a response to the growing demand for Embedded and Real-Time systems in industry and society. Our daily lives are surrounded by software and control systems, ranging from very simple means to extremely complex applications.  These applications might be critical if they may impact on human safety, damage the Earth environment, or cause material or structural damage. They require the combination of formal processes, techniques and methods to ensure their safety. 

Our principal objectives are:

• To improve the technology, tools and engineering practices used in the development of embedded and control software, following real-time and criticality requirements.
• To seek to cross-fertilise the best experience and practice among CTAE´s groups and into other sectors of the industry and academia.
• To become an independent centre for certification of safety critical applications, helping our customers to improve safety and competitiveness.

Reference projects:

• LIFT – Software Architecture, Control Systems and Flight Planning of an unmanned aerial system (UAS).
• PHXLOR – Development of a prototype software tool for converting and embedding NASA remote commands inside ESA mission planning files for Mars lander cross-support.
• Air-SCR – A mock-up of an airborne integrated surveillance system intended to improve aircraft safety in commercial flights;
• WeaFUSIO – This project deals with the onboard fusion of meteorological data in real time.
• Short course on Quality Assurance for Critical Software and Systems – CTAE,  together with the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), co-organizes this innovative professional training course.

Laboratory equipment:

• Polyspace Embedded Software Verification tool

[Photo: Image of Phoenix Lander, credited to NASA JPL]