REVERSE ENGINEERING OF ASSEMBLY CODE

THE U.S. NAVY DEVELOPS AND DEPLOYS SOME OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST, MOST COMPLEX INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS THAT REQUIRE LIFE-CYCLE MAINTENANCE (LCM) SUPPORT. BECAUSE THESE SYSTEMS ARE USED IN A REAL-TIME ENVIRONMENT, THEY FREQUENTLY MUST BE MODIFIED TO REFLECT CHANGING CONDITIONS AND TO INTRODUCE NEW CAPABILITIES. AS CHANGES TO THESE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS ARE INCORPORATED, PARTICULARLY CHANGES TO THE ASSEMBLY CODE EMBEDDED IN HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGES, THE DESIGN DOCUMENTATION IS RARELY UPDATED. REVERSE ENGINEERING PROVIDES THIS SUPPORT FOR THE LIFE-CYCLE MAINTENANCE PROJECT BY PROVIDING AS MUCH HIGH-LEVEL INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE TO BE REPRESENTED IN THE DETAILED DESIGN DOCUMENTATION. RECOGNIZING THE REQUIREMENT FOR FUTURE REVERSE ENGINEERING EFFORTS, SYNETICS WILL PLAN FOR THE FUTURE NOW BY INTEGRATING ALL PHASES OF LARGE REAL-TIME SYSTEM GENERATION INTO ONE ENVIRONMENT. THIS CONCEPT, CALLED SOFTWARE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT PHILOSOPHY (STEP), PROVIDES CONTROL AND CONSISTENCY FOR LCM AND REVERSE ENGINEERING. SYNETICS PROPOSES TO DESIGN AN INNOVATIVE AUTOMATED TOOL TO PERFORM REVERSE ENGINEERING OF ASSEMBLY CODE. THE SYNETICS APPROACH IS INNOVATIVE IN THAT IT WILL PROVIDE PDL THAT WILL BE READILY ACCEPTED BY AN ADA CASE TOOL CAPABLE OF PRODUCING ADA SOURCE CODE, THUS FULLY AUTOMATING THE REVERSE ENGINEERING PROCESS.