INSERTION OF SOFTWARE FAULT TOLERANCE TECHNOLOGY TOOLS INTO THE SLCSE

OBJECTIVE IS TO INVESTIGATE TECHNIQUES/METHODS FOR SOFTWARE FAULT TOLERANCE, AND THE AVAILABILITY OF, REQUIREMENTS FOR, AND USE OF TOOLS TO AID IN INSERTION OF SOFTWARE FAULT TOLERANCE INTO MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS. RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE THE INFORMATION REQUIRED TO DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE TOOL SET THAT CONSISTS OF THE SRS-DEVELOPED AUTOMATED FAULT TOLERANCE EVALUATOR AND AT LEAST ONE OTHER AUTOMATED TOOL TO AID IN FAULT TOLERANT SOFTWARE SYSTEMS THROUGH A USER-FRIENDLY, GRAPHICS-INTERFACE MODELING ENVIRONMENT UTILIZING TEMPLATES REPRESENTING SOFTWARE FAULT TOLERANCE TECHNIQUES AND COMMON SOFTWARE FUNCTIONS YIELDING RAPID PROTOTYPING CAPABILITY. THIS TOOL SET WILL PROVIDE THE MEANS FOR USERS AT EACH STAGE OF THE SOFTWARE LIFE CYCLE TO INCORPORATE SOFTWARE FAULT TOLERANCE TECHNOLOGY IN MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS IN ORDER TO MOST EFFECTIVELY UTILIZE THAT HIGH RELIABILITY AND AVAILABILITY REQUIREMENTS ARE MET BY THE RESULTING SYSTEMS.