Liverpool Data Research Associates

Liverpool Data Research Associates (LDRA) is a provider of software analysis, and test and requirements traceability tools for the Public and Private sectors and a pioneer in static and dynamic software analysis.

Liverpool Data Research Associates (LDRA)
TypePrivately held company
IndustrySoftware testing
Founded1975
Headquarters
Wirral Peninsula, England
Key people
Professor Michael Hennell, CEO
ProductsLDRA Testbed, TBrun, TBvision, & others
Websitehttp://www.ldra.com

History

LDRA was founded in 1975 by Professor Michael Hennell to commercialize a software test-bed created to perform quality assessments on the mathematical libraries on which his Nuclear physics research at the University of Liverpool depended.[1][2]

Products

LDRA Testbed is a proprietary software analysis tool providing static code analysis, and also provides code coverage analysis, code, quality, and design reviews. It is a commercial implementation of the software test-bed created by Hennell as part of his university research. It was the first commercial product to include support for the Linear Code Sequence and Jump software analysis method, which resulted from the same research. It is used primarily where software is required to be reliable, rugged, and as error free as possible, such as in safety critical aerospace electronics (or Avionics).[3] It has also been used in the detection and removal of security vulnerabilities.[4] LDRA Testbed is a part of a tool suite from LDRA, including:

  • TBrun — an automated unit testing tool
  • TBmanager — extends TBreq
  • TBevolve — supports software baseline management
  • TBsafe — supports certification objectives: DO-178C, Def Stan 00-55, IEC 61508[5]
  • TBpublish — for publishing HTML indexes
  • TBaudit — for Microsoft Word reports
  • LDRAcover — coverage tool[6]
  • LDRArules — standards compliance[7]
  • TBmisra — LDRArules add-on to apply MISRA C:2012 and other related or similar safety and security rulesets[5]<
  • Tool Qualification Support Packages — for safety- and security-critical workflows,[5] e.g., DO-178C

Services

In March 2012, LDRA announced a fully compliant FAA/EASA certification solution[8] to provide support and guide certification applicants through a wide range of standards including:

Industry Standards

LDRA is a contributor to several industry standards, including DO-178C,[9] MISRA C[10] and MISRA C++.[11] Additionally, LDRA is an Industry Partner[12] for the CERT C Secure Coding Standard[13] produced by the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute.

In February 2018, LDRA announced[14] the hiring of Andrew Banks to boost their Standards activities. Banks is the Chairman of both the MISRA C Working Group and of the BSI Software Testing Working Group, and a contributor to a number of national and international standards in the Software Engineering and Functional Safety domains, notably ISO 26262.

References
  1. M. A. Hennell, An experimental testbed for numerical software. {I}. {Fortran}, The Computer Journal 21(4):333--336, @nov, 1978
  2. M. A. Hennell and D. Hedley, An experimental testbed for numerical software. {II}. {ALGOL 68}, The Computer Journal 22(1):53--56, @feb, 1979
  3. John Binder, Testing software: The new frontier, Aerospace America, June 2005, pp 30 - 31
  4. Jay-Evan J. Tevis, John A. Hamilton, Methods for the prevention, detection and removal of software security vulnerabilities, Proceedings of the 42nd ACM annual Southeast regional conference, pp 197 - 202, Huntsville, Alabama, 2004, ISBN 1-58113-870-9
  5. "LDRA". Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  6. "New code analysis tool released by LDRA at Design East". Military Embedded Systems. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  7. "DESIGN East - LDRArules programming rule checker assures standards compliance". Embedded.com. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  8. "Design West: LDRA Certification Services streamlines FAA/EASA certification at LDRA Certification Services streamlines FAA/EASA certification at a fixed price". Design West. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  9. LDRA Certification Services team lead to be formally recognized in Washington, D.C. as a key member of the RTCA SC-205 Committee. April 30, 2012 01:00 PM Eastern Time (http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120430005629/en/RTCA-Honors-LCS-Team-Lead-Todd-R.)
  10. MISRA - The Motor Industry Software Reliability Association - MISRA C, http://www.misra-c2.com/
  11. MISRA - The Motor Industry Software Reliability Association - MISRA C ++, http://www.misra-cpp.com/
  12. CERT Research Annual Report 2008, SEI Communications, Executive Editor Richard Linger
  13. CERT C Secure Coding Standard, The, Robert C. Seacord, Oct 14, 2008, Addison-Wesley Professional, ISBN 0-321-56321-2.
  14. ""LDRA Extends Commitment to Safety and Security Compliance Through Hire of Automotive Software Standards Champion"". Thomas Industry Update. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
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