Kapture® Overview
Kapture® helps a user develop software requirements that can be verified. In doing so, the requirements have all the attributes typically looked for in software requirements standards. They are atomic, clear, concise, unambiguous and self-sufficient. With the additional healthiness checks, they are also self-consistent thus avoiding issues such as conflicting requirements. These assured attributes assist a developer in a number of ways:
• Because they are clear and concise, they are easily communicated to software designers, test case or other verification process developers as well as to certifiers.
• Verification is much more straightforward because the requirements are verifiable.
• Errors that would typically be made in requirements development are avoided thus saving significant cost which would have been incurred when errors were found later in the development life cycle.
• Changes to requirements can be quickly incorporated and checked.
Developed to be used in conjunction with the D-RisQ's Modelworks® tool as part of a formal methods based automatic verification process, Kapture® can be used as a powerful stand-alone tool providing software requirements which can still be verified by traditional (costly) manual review and test methods.
Kapture® in the work flow
Requirements can be written directly in Kapture® and configuration managed by the creation and saving of the file version or the exporting to a configuration management tool. Tracing to system requirements can be included if desired. Using Kapture® requirements, the design process can then begin. Kapture® therefore can be used in any life cycle process, traditional, agile, etc. Tracing information to the design can be inserted if required. Similarly, test cases can be developed and appropriate tracing can be included. The user may also wish to designate individual requirements as being safety or security related and can tag them with how they are to be verified; there is a specific tag for D-RisQ Modelworks® if this intended to be used.
Kapture® and Certification
As a by-product of writing requirements in Kapture®, some certification credit under various software standards may be claimed. If using DO-178C, the Formal Methods Supplement DO-333 will apply if using a formal development process because Kapture® provides formal semantics to the requirements.
Data Dictionary
In Kapture®, constants, signals and modes of the system are defined in the Data Dictionary and referred to in definitions and requirements. Such cross references act like hyperlinks. If the name of a declaration is altered, all cross-references act like hyperlinks. If the name of a declaration is altered, all cross-references to it are adjusted top use the new name. Declarations can be traced through their cross-references and unreferenced declarations are automatically highlighted.
DISCOVER MOREDefinitions...
Definitions in Kapture® allow you to give a unique textual description for an expression to help make other definitions or requirements easier to read and maintain.
Once a definition has been created, it can be cross-referenced by referring to a definition identifier in an expression. Cross references are shown by underlining text, and can be jumped to using the menu selection shown when right clicking on an expression.
DISCOVER MOREUser defined functions...
Function definitions in Kapture® allow the creation of user-defined functions that satisfy the following constraint.
Functions cannot be recursive or mutually recursive. Thus, a user-defined function cannot contain a call to itself either directly or indirectly through a call to another function.
Once a function definition has been created it can be used as a user-defined operator within an expression.
DISCOVER MORE1. Functions cannot contain references to user-defined definitions, though can reference other functions subject to the next constraint.
2. Functions cannot be recursive or mutually recursive. Thus, a user-defined function cannot contain a call to itself either directly or indirectly through a call to another function.
Note the first of these constraints might be relaxed in a future version of the Kapture tool.
Once a function definition has been created it can be used as a user-defined operator within an expression.
Assumptions...
Assumptions are completely informal descriptions of any contextual information about the environment in which a system is to operate.
Templates...
Templates provide a flexible guide to writing requirements in a consistent form.
DISCOVER MOREExport
Kapture® can export to different formats:
· Publish and share with other stajeholders in HTML.
• Import into other tools such as DOORS® and Requirements Toolbox® using RegIF.
· Analyse whether the requirements are implemented by a Simulink®/Stateflow® model using Modelworks®
· Process as an XML document or spreadsheet.
