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.

History

LDRA was founded in 1975 by Professor

Michael Hennell Professor Michael A. Hennell (born 9 September 1940) is a British computer scientist who has made leading contributions in the field of software testing. Michael Hennell was a Professor of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool in Engla ...

to commercialize a software test-bed created to perform quality assessments on the mathematical libraries on which his

Nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

research at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

depended.M. A. Hennell, ''An experimental test bed for numerical software. . '', The Computer Journal 21(4):333--336, @nov, 1978M. A. Hennell and D. Hedley, ''An experimental testbed for numerical software. . '', The Computer Journal 22(1):53--56, @feb, 1979

Products

LDRA Testbed LDRA Testbed provides the core static and dynamic analysis engines for both host and embedded software. LDRA Testbed is made by Liverpool Data Research Associates (LDRA). LDRA Testbed provides the means to enforce compliance with coding standard ...

is a proprietary software analysis tool providing

static code analysis In computer science, static program analysis (or static analysis) is the analysis of computer programs performed without executing them, in contrast with dynamic program analysis, which is performed on programs during their execution. The term i ...

, and also provides

code coverage In computer science, test coverage is a percentage measure of the degree to which the source code of a program is executed when a particular test suite is run. A program with high test coverage has more of its source code executed during testing, ...

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 Linear code sequence and jump (LCSAJ), in the broad sense, is a software analysis method used to identify structural units in code under test. Its primary use is with dynamic software analysis to help answer the question "How much testing is enough ...

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 Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

). It has also been used in the detection and removal of security vulnerabilities.

is a part of a tool suite from LDRA, including: *TBrun — an automated

unit testing In computer programming, unit testing is a software testing method by which individual units of source code—sets of one or more computer program modules together with associated control data, usage procedures, and operating procedures&md ...

tool *TBmanager — a requirements traceability tool *TBevolve — supports software baseline management *TBsafe — supports certification objectives:

DO-178C DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification is the primary document by which the certification authorities such as FAA, EASA and Transport Canada approve all commercial software-based aerospace systems. The do ...

, Def Stan 00-55,

IEC 61508 IEC 61508 is an international standard published by the International Electrotechnical Commission consisting of methods on how to apply, design, deploy and maintain automatic protection systems called safety-related systems. It is titled ''Functio ...

*TBpublish — for publishing HTML indexes *TBaudit — for

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms includin ...

reports *LDRAcover — coverage tool *LDRArules — standards compliance *TBmisra — LDRArules add-on to apply MISRA C:2012 and other related or similar safety and security rulesets< *Tool Qualification Support Packages — for safety- and security-critical workflows, e.g., DO-178C

Services

In March 2012, LDRA announced a fully compliant

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...

certification solution to provide support and guide certification applicants through a wide range of standards including: *

( B), DO-278A,

DO-254 RTCA DO-254 / EUROCAE ED-80, Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware is a document providing guidance for the development of airborne electronic hardware, published by RTCA, Incorporated and EUROCAE. The DO-254/ED-80 standard w ...

* IEC 62304 *

ISO 26262 ISO 26262, titled "Road vehicles – Functional safety", is an international standard for functional safety of electrical and/or electronic systems that are installed in serial production road vehicles (excluding mopeds), defined by the Interna ...

*EN 50128 *IEC 60880

Industry Standards

LDRA is a contributor to several industry standards, including

,''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.)

MISRA C MISRA C is a set of software development guidelines for the C (programming language), C programming language developed by Motor Industry Software Reliability Association, The MISRA Consortium. Its aims are to facilitate code safety, Computer securi ...

''MISRA - The Motor Industry Software Reliability Association - MISRA C'', http://www.misra-c2.com/ and MISRA C++.''MISRA - The Motor Industry Software Reliability Association - MISRA C ++'', http://www.misra-cpp.com/ Additionally, LDRA is an Industry Partner for the CERT C Secure Coding Standard''CERT C Secure Coding Standard, The'', Robert C. Seacord, Oct 14, 2008, Addison-Wesley Professional, . produced by the

Computer Emergency Response Team A computer emergency response team (CERT) is an expert group that handles computer security incidents. Alternative names for such groups include computer emergency readiness team and computer security incident response team (CSIRT). A more modern ...

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie may refer to: People * Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name * Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie *Carnegie Building (Troy, New York), on the campus of Rensselaer Polyt ...

Software Engineering Institute The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is an American research and development center headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its activities cover cybersecurity, software assurance, software engineering and acquisition, and component capabi ...

. In February 2018, LDRA announced the hiring of Andrew Banks to boost their Standards activities. Banks is the Chairman of both the

Working Group and of the BSI

Software Testing Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to apprecia ...

Working Group, and a contributor to a number of national and international standards in the

Software Engineering Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...

and

Functional Safety Functional safety is the part of the overall safety of a system or piece of equipment that depends on automatic protection operating correctly in response to its inputs or failure in a predictable manner (fail-safe). The automatic protection syste ...

domains, notably

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LDRA Companies based in Merseyside Privately held companies of the United Kingdom Science and technology in Merseyside Software companies of the United Kingdom University of Liverpool