A Digital Assurance Framework

In this short paper, we present a Digital Assurance framework motivated by the aerospace industry’s need to integrate agility into certification. The framework centers on Digital Assurance Cases (DACs), which are computational entities designed to be constructed, transformed, and managed algorithmically. They stand in contrast to assurance cases developed through human-machine interaction, the more common approach. We elaborate on the motivation to bring notions of agility into assurance and the changes to the state of practice in assurance necessary to make it practicable. Furthermore, this paper briefly introduces the four main elements of the Digital Assurance framework: an Assurance-as-a-Service Platform (A3SP), the DAC Data Models, Domain-specific Languages, and an Assurance Case Pattern Library. We conclude by highlighting areas of current and future research.