The Why of Development Assurance

In the domain of aircraft certification, Development Assurance is what some would call a useful tool to gain confidence in the development of complex systems, and what others would call a necessary evil. But what does it actually do? Why is it necessary for certification of modern aircraft? What, epistemologically, does it bring to the table? This paper aims to show why development assurance activities, at all levels from aircraft to item, close the epistemological holes created when complex systems are chosen for implementation. It will map the different sources and types of uncertainty encountered in system verification and explain how each type is dealt with within a certification context, working from simple mechanical systems up to complex and highly integrated systems using software and airborne electronic hardware and beyond. It will show that Development Assurance, far from being an arbitrary set of activities, systematically brings personal and corporate expertise to bear to provide confidence that development errors have been sufficiently identified and mitigated or eliminated.