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As consumers want more functionality and companies want to produce differentiated products, software is becoming an increasingly large part of embedded systems design. Not only that, software is getting bigger and more complex. Consequently, testing code fully becomes a harder prospect. When embedded systems have safety critical applications, ensuring that software is reliable becomes even more important. So what techniques can embedded system software developers use to ease the process? Embedded systems are everywhere – from mobile phone handsets and set top boxes to medical scanners – but their very nature means the software that powers them is hidden from view. Creating that software for embedded systems gives the developer a unique set of challenges; often constrained by specialised platforms and hardware that isn’t yet fully developed itself. The safety critical nature of many embedded systems means that testing must be rigorous, in an often simulated environment. When developing something as complex and mission critical as the flight management system for a new aircraft, these considerations need to be taken exceptionally seriously. This was the challenge for Valtech when it undertook the software development element of the Airbus A400M military aircraft flight management system (FMS).