A Quantitative Method for Trading Off Dependability with Other System Attributes

This research is aimed at producing a dependable system design prototype. It will serve as a testbed for research on the integration of dependability automation suport into the systems design process by assisting designers in quantifying tradeoffs between dependability and other system attributes. Phase I consists of three tasks. In Task 1, we will identify the important factors in systems design that lead to tradeoffs among attributes. This will involve: Identifying system design features, specifying dependability, performance, and other system attributes, and identifying the relationships between design features and system attributes. In Task 2, we will develop a methodology for quantifying tradeoffs. This will most likely be based on the principles of multiattribute utility analysis, but may include features from other methods as well (such as the analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy decision analysis, or imprecisely defined multiattribute utility analysis). In Task 3, we will specify the requirements and design of a prototype system to implement the methodoloy. We will also prototype any critical risk areas of the design. The dependable systems design prototype will be fully developed and demonstrated in Phase II.