243 – Formal Specification and Proof

04/10/17 • 122 min

The increasing complexity of software requires increasingly sophisticated means of ensuring its correctness -- "just" testing is not necessarily good enough, depending on the domain in which the software is used. Formal specification, verification and proof is a field with a long tradition in computer science that is gaining more (practical) relevance these days; and in this episode, we cover the basics. Our guest is Benjamin Pierce, professor of computer science at UPenn. We discuss the nature of (good) specifications, how verification and proof is different from testing, and where and how these techniques are successfully used today.

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242 – Satellite Testing at ESTEC

This is the last episode recorded during my visit to ESA's ESTEC last fall. I get a tour of the Test Centre with the head of the section, Mark Wagner. We discuss the various test stands and facilities, including the thermal vacuum facility, the large space simulator, the thermal vacuum chamber, the vibration facilities, electromagnetic testing and acoustic testing.

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244 – SAR Satelliten und Satellitendatenarchivierung am EOC

Ich war am Earth Observation Center des DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen zu Besuch und habe dort zwei Gespräche geführt. Zunächst ging es mit mit Michael Eineder vom Institut für Methodik der Fernerkundung um Radarsatelliten und deren Einsatz für die Erdbeobachtung. Wir sprechen über das Funktionsprinzip von satellitengestützten SAR-Radar und betrachten außerdem die beiden Missionen TerraSAR-X und TanDEM-X. Im zweiten Teil spreche ich mit Stephan Kiemle vom Deutsches Fernerkundungsdatenzentrum über Satellitendatenarchivierung.