Software Verification and Validation Plan: SVVP

Polar View Earth Observation Limited is working in collaboration with EOX IT Services, Drift+Noise Polar Services, the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute to develop a fully functional Use Case that utilizes the DESP/DestinE system capabilities and data and adds value to meet the needs of policy and decision makers who require information on the past, current, and forecasted sea ice and other relevant conditions for operational purposes in the Baltic Sea, European Arctic Ocean, and the rest of the polar regions.

The Use Case will build on and complement existing operational and climate sea ice products and services including those provided by the Copernicus Marine Service, the national Ice Services, the ESA Polar Thematic Exploitation Platform (Polar TEP), and the commercial Drift+Noise IcySea app. The Use Case will augment and improve on the current offerings by:

One driver for the project is the regulation of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of the United Nations mandating that ships operating in the polar regions meet certain requirements (the Polar Code). Among other things, the Polar Code specifies a range of information that ships traveling in polar waters are required to access for planning and operations. The Use Case will demonstrate the value of short and medium-term forecasts of sea ice, meteorological, and ocean conditions suitable for strategic and tactical decision making by ships and their owners.

A second driver for the project is the effect of climate change on polar conditions that will impact long-term planning and policy development for polar operations such as fishing, tourism, scientific research campaigns, oil and gas development, and supplying northern communities. The Use Case will deliver long-term forecasts of how changing sea ice and other conditions will affect where different types of ships will be able to travel in the polar regions compared to historical averages.

Benefits to polar operations and the rest of society will include increased safety of life and property, decreased pollution, and protection of sensitive environmental areas.

The verification approach for the DESIDE system consists of a combination of unit testing, integration testing, and system testing.

Unit Testing: Each component of the data pipeline undergoes thorough unit testing. Unit tests are designed to verify the individual functionality of each component in isolation. The unit tests ensure that the components perform as expected and adhere to the defined requirements.

Integration Testing: Integration testing is conducted to verify the interactions and compatibility between the components of the data pipeline. Integration tests are executed to ensure proper data flow and integration points between the components. These tests focus on verifying the overall functionality and communication of the integrated components.

Server Testing: The server responsible for data sharing is subjected to a comprehensive set of tests. These tests cover various aspects, including data input/output verification, data storage and retrieval, error handling, and performance under different load conditions. The server tests are designed to ensure the reliability, stability, and efficiency of the data sharing functionality.

System Testing: The main repository, which contains the deployment and bundling system, is verified through system testing. System tests are designed to evaluate the end-to-end functionality and behavior of the software system as a whole. These tests cover various scenarios and use cases to ensure that the system operates as intended and meets the specified requirements.

To facilitate the testing process, the pytest framework has been selected as the primary testing tool. pytest offers ease of use, is widely adopted within the industry, and provides comprehensive documentation. Its rich set of features enables efficient test development, execution, and result analysis.

The rationale behind this approach is to ensure that each component of the software system is thoroughly verified in isolation, as well as in conjunction with other components to verify their integration. By adopting a combination of unit testing, integration testing, and system testing, we aim to identify and address any issues early in the development cycle, ensuring the delivery of a high-quality and reliable software system.