A European aerospace and technology organization, focused on space systems, develops and manufactures lightweight satellites for Earth observation, navigation, communications, and scientific missions.
The Challenges
The organization faced significant bottlenecks in creating overall and integration test cases and scripts, which were done manually and often deferred to late project stages. Key challenges included:
High manual effort: Engineering teams spent extensive time defining, writing, and maintaining complex test scenarios aligned with both functional and non-functional requirements.
Compressed timelines: Backloaded testing coincided with critical project deadlines, increasing schedule pressure.
Increased risk: Delays or inefficiencies during integration and verification jeopardized mission readiness, quality assurance, and compliance with stringent aerospace standards.
These challenges delayed time-to-market and compromised product stability. In satellite development, reliability is directly tied to mission success, making potential software failures high-risk liabilities.
The Solution
Developair Technologies implemented an AI-driven solution to automate key aspects of the development process, focusing on integration test generation for satellite software.
Key features included:
Automatic test case generation: Verified system requirements are used to automatically generate functional, traceable test cases aligned with specific requirements, ensuring coverage, transparency, and compliance.
Automatic test script generation: Executable scripts were automatically produced and adapted to the customer’s testing tool (Cantata), reducing manual errors and development time.
Support for traceability and specification processes: The solution facilitates interface modeling, requirements traceability, data connectivity, and compliance documentation, aligning with ECSS (European Cooperation for Space Standardization) guidelines.
Embedding AI into the testing workflow enabled early detection of conflicts and errors, rapid adaptation to design changes, and minimized human error, while maintaining the high reliability expected of satellite software systems.
The Outcomes
Deployment of Developair’s automated testing solution delivered measurable improvements:
60% reduction in effort and time
50% simplification in software maintenance
Full compliance with ECSS standards
This solution allowed the engineering team to shift from reactive testing to proactive assurance, reducing risk, improving productivity, and delivering more reliable software into orbit.
