Parasoft, a global leader in AI-driven software testing solutions, has officially signed off on its collaboration with Ribbit, a startup best known for developing autonomous flight technology to transform air cargo deliveries across remote areas for civilian, defense, and humanitarian applications.
According to certain reports, the stated collaboration will take a departure from the conventional approach of building new autonomous aircraft from the ground up for a rather distinctive “software-first” strategy which markedly focuses on retrofitting existing, small, and affordable aircraft with autonomous autopilot software and ruggedized, off-the-shelf hardware.
More on that would reveal how the deployed core autonomy stack, developed in C++ for maximum control and safety-critical reliability, is aided by Ribbit’s use of Parasoft’s comprehensive test automation solutions for C/C++ software development.
Talk about the whole value proposition on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how Ribbit selected Parasoft C/C++ test to support fast-paced, iterative design and prototype cycles, along with the safety benefits of DO-178C and JSF coding standards. The collaboration further enjoys regulatory validation, claiming that Ribbit’s retrofitted systems are safe.
In case this wasn’t enough, Parasoft’s static analysis and compliance capabilities also enforce MISRA and JSF rules early in development so to empower engineers in the context of finding and fixing coding issues as early as possible.
“Ribbit’s partnership with Parasoft is a cornerstone of our development strategy by empowering our engineers to standardize coding practices and deliver consistent product quality,” said Carl Pigeon, co-founder and CEO of Ribbit. “It is also beneficial for onboarding new employees more effectively. In particular, Parasoft’s static analysis tools are like a personal tutor that sets the benchmark for Ribbit’s code quality.”
Next up, we must expand upon the availability of a proven approach which Ribbit leverages to test autonomy using onboard safety pilots before progressing to remotely supervised flights. The idea here is to help engineers procure critical data, while simultaneously maintaining operational flexibility.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the way Parasoft’s deep aerospace and civil aviation expertise, TÜV SÜD certification, and seamless integration with existing workflows all contribute towards the effective enforcement of coding standards.
Having said so, Parasoft C/C++test also offers Ribbit for more than just compliance checking, We say so because engineers can take advantage of the VS Code plugin to catch issues in real-time without context switching. On top of that, the company’s AI-powered violation triaging also prioritizes the most critical fixes, something which is also crucial for a team juggling multiple requirements.
All in all, thanks to Parasoft C/C++test CT, Ribbit goes on to achieve 90-95% test coverage through continuous integration pipelines that blend test execution with their simulation environments.
In fact, during the early phase of their collaboration, Ribbit achieved multiple $1M+ government contracts for defense and humanitarian applications.
“Ribbit is a great example of how innovative aerospace companies can move quickly without compromising safety by integrating Parasoft static analysis into their CI workflow,” said Ricardo Camacho, director of product strategy at Embedded & Safety-Critical Compliance, Parasoft. “When demonstrating their systems to Transport Canada, for instance, Ribbit could easily point to their Parasoft-verified processes as evidence of rigorous development, even before formal certification.”
