TVS wins NATEP grant to extend aerospace test programme

In response to NATEP’s call for proposals in 2013, TVS submitted a bid to extend its asureSIGN technology, in particular to provide support for the software and hardware avionics safety standards, DO-178C and DO-254. TVS’ proposal was submitted in conjunction with Bristol University as an academic partner, and with Rolls-Royce as an end user partner.

TVS’ Director of Software Testing Europe, Jim Thomas, said, “Being awarded the grant was not only satisfying from the standpoint of the effort that had been put into the proposal by the team, but it also reflects the trust in TVS, and the technical ability of the company as seen by NATEP. It is indeed a great accolade and now we must work together with partners Bristol University and Rolls Royce to deliver a first class package that will benefit the aerospace industry and community.”

“In selecting TVS’ asureSIGN proposal we felt it was important to remain faithful to the remit of the technology development programme,” said NATEP’s Regional Technology Manager, Dr. Edward Elias. “Essentially, that is to help small and medium sized businesses to develop innovative technologies for the aerospace sector to improve their ability to win new business with higher tier companies in the UK and globally. We felt that TVS’ proposal strongly achieved that.”

TVS’ asureSIGN requirements and verification management tool concept addresses the gap between the capture and tracing of functional requirements available in industry leading products (such as DOORSTM from IBM and ReqtifyTM from Dassault Systemes) and the testing capability provided by a whole host of solutions.

For every functional requirement, asureSIGN automatically tracks the status of verification tasks such as tests, coverage and assertions to assess the quality of verification activities and relates these tasks to product requirements over time, so that requirements-based verification and the verification activities can be more effectively managed.

By tracking, in a simple and cohesive manner, how a project is progressing with respect to its requirements and their related verification activities, and presenting the information succinctly as a series of dashboards, it addresses the needs of both management and developers/testers.

TVS expects to deliver the extended asureSIGN aerospace-focussed package in late 2015.

The project will be monitored on behalf of ADS, which manages NATEP, by the West of England Aerospace Forum (WEAF), the trade association that champions and supports the interests of the aerospace and defence industry in the South West of England.

In the picture Michael Fallon UK Defence Secretary (facing camera) discusses the grant award win with Dr. Mike Bartley, TVS CEO and Founder.