An Exercise in Reverse Engineering for Safety-Critical Systems: An Experience for the Classroom

There have been multiple software system failures and successes that have led to milestone events since the inception of software development. One can harken back to the Y2K problem of the late 1990s that led to a great demand in reverse engineering activities in academia and the industry. Fast-forward to the 21st century and one observes that reverse engineering lacks emphasis in USA academia. This issue is exemplified by the high demand for software systems in new and expanding software application areas, which has resulted in systems being implemented before the requirements and design phases have been completed. Towards the maintenance of such systems, it is necessary to conducted reverse engineering for the derivation of software documentation for requirements and high-level and low-level design. When this scenario exists in the domain of safety-critical system, particularly in the aviation industry, reverse engineering takes on greater value because such software systems must undergo development regulations and certification restrictions. This work reports on the experienced gained from conducting reverse engineering on an industry-based software system as a university project. The software system addressed a problem in the domain of aviation and was treated as a safety-critical system. The reverse engineering methodology applied was based on the RTCA DO-178C Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification specification for onboard avionic software systems.