Case Study on Changing Role of Software and Systems

Here’s another great article by SEI’sSarah Sheard on who the role of software has changed within systems over the last 50 years. Be sure to check out the references.
The Changing Role of Systems and Software in Satellites: A Case Study
By Sarah Sheard, Member of the Technical Staff
SEI Software Solutions Division
The role of software within systems has fundamentally changed over the past 50 years. Software’s role has changed both on mission-critical DoD systems, such as fighter aircraft and surveillance equipment, and on commercial products, such as telephones and cars. Software has become not only the brain of most systems, but the backbone of their functionality. Acquisition processes must acknowledge this new reality and adapt. This blog posting, the second in a series about the relationship of software engineering (SwE) and systems engineering (SysE), shows how software technologies have come to dominate what formerly were hardware-based systems. This posting describes a case study: the story of software on satellites, whose lessons can be applied to many other kinds of software-reliant systems….