On Identifying a Methodology for the Integration of Commercial-off-the-shelf Products into Research Software Systems
Stephane Eric Collignon, Stephen Cook · 2004
For the purposes of this paper we consider project-specific research software to be software that is produced in a research laboratory for specific purposes to support what in Defence terms are known as capability systems. It is different in character to the production software that is embedded in capability systems in that it is produced in a laboratory environment for specific purposes such as experimentation, concept exploration, or risk reduction. It normally has a limited lifetime, is maintained by the development team, and is built using Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) components to the greatest possible extent. The paper opens by introducing the current Australian Defence Capability Development model that shows six lifecycle phases. We use this to define three types of research software that map onto three of the phases: concept development software, system demonstration software, and midlife upgrade support software. For each of these types, we define the software quality attributes that are most important and use these to identify the types of methodologies most appropriate to the development of each type of research software.