System Dependability Assessment Tool

Dependability is an increasingly critical characteristic of the Navy's mission critical computer systems. These systems must be maintained in a state of readiness to support critical mission functions, and must be able to perform these functions correctly despite the presence of faults in system hardware and software components, and in the environments in which the systems operate. Automated tools are needed to assist in specifying and evaluating dependability characteristics of mission critical computer system designs, and in balancing dependability against other system attributes such a performance and cost. Phase I research will determine the feasibility of an automated system dependability assessment tool (SDAT) for assessment of mission critical computer system dependability. SDAT will consist of separate design specification, design translation, and design evaluation components. These tool components will be extendible and will be compatible with other Navy system engineering methods and tools. Quantitative dependability measures that will be produced by SDAT include mission reliability and operational availability for critical system functions. Dependability modeling capabilities provided by existing automated tools, including the START integrated reliability and performance analysis tool, as well as other reliability prediction tools sucyh as SHARPE and ARAM, will provide a starting point for the SDAT specification to be developed in Phase I.