Software Analysis - Understanding the customer’s needs and expectations.

This phase of development includes:

Compliance to all relevant standards and regulations
Testability of each requirement
System resource usage, sampling rates, and response times required
Diagnostics and fault management requirements
Hardware/software interfaces, including circuits, ASIC’s, communications protocols, 3rd party development tools
Identify safety requirements and ensure that they are managed at the proper ASIL for ISO 26262 projects

To fully understand the requirements, Dana engineers start by reviewing datasheets and researching specifications in addition to consultation with experts. To evaluate solutions, the engineering team may run simulations, develop software mock-ups/prototypes, or experiment with development boards. Dana leverages past projects to look for similar appropriate requirements.

After the analysis is complete, the requirements are refined and used as the basis for software architecture and low-level requirements development.

Knowledgebase

During the Requirements Analysis phase of a project, opportunities to leverage Dana’s experience and growing codebase are identified. This can provide significant cost savings while reducing development times.
Recently, Dana completed a project developed almost entirely from existing software components. Development started with an existing M670 module for the basis. A UART communications feature from a M550 module and a secondary microcontroller for BLDC motor control was added from another project. In this example, no new software features had to be written. This resulted in reduced project development cost and time, and provided the customer with added peace-of-mind due to the use of proven code.