Industrial Perspectives of Safety-critical Systems


Book Description

This book contains the Proceedings of the 6th Safety-critical Systems Sympo sium, the theme of which is Industrial Perspectives. In accordance with the theme, all of the chapters have been contributed by authors having an industrial af filiation. The first two chapters reflect half-day tutorials - Managing a Safety-critical System Development Project and Principles of Safety Management - held on the first day of the event, and the following 15 are contributed by the presenters of papers on the next two days. Following the tutorials, the chapters fa~l into five sub-themes - the session titles at the Symposium. In the first of these, on 'Software Development Tech nology', Trevor Cockram and others report on the industrial application of a requirements traceability model, Paul Bennett on configuration management in safety-critical systems, and Brian Wichmann on Ada. The next 5 chapters are on 'Safety Management'. In the safety domain, the fundamental business of management is increasingly being addressed with respect not merely to getting things done, but also to controlling the processes by which they are done, the risks involved, and the need not only to achieve safety but to demonstrate that it has been achieved. In this context, Gustaf Myhrman reveals recent developments for safer systems in the Swedish De fence, and Shoky Visram reports on the management of safety within a large and complex Air Traffic Control project.




Safety-critical Computer Systems


Book Description

Increasingly microcomputers are being used in applications where their correct operation is vital to ensure the safety of the public and the environment: from anti-lock braking systems in automobiles, to fly-by-wire aircraft, to shut-down systems at nuclear power plants. It is, therefore, vital that engineers be aware of the safety implications of the systems they develop. This book is an introduction to the field of safety-critical computer systems written for any engineer who uses microcomputers within real-time embedded systems. It assumes no prior knowledge of safety, or of any specific computer hardware or programming language. This text is intended for both engineering and computer science students, and for practising engineers within computer related industries. The approach taken is equally suited to engineers who consider computers from a hardware, software or systems viewpoint.




Technology and Assessment of Safety-Critical Systems


Book Description

The programme for the Second Safety-critical Systems Symposium was planned to examine the various aspects of technology currently employed in the design of safety-critical systems, as well as to emphasise the importance of safety and risk management in their design and operation. assessment There is an even balance of contributions from academia and industry. Thus, industry is given the opportunity to express its views of the safety-critical domain and at the same time offered a glimpse of the technologies which are currently under development and which, if successful, will be available in the medium-term future. In the field of technology, a subject whose importance is increasingly being recognised is human factors, and there are papers on this from the University of Hertfordshire and Rolls-Royce. Increasingly, PLCs are being employed in safety-critical applications, and this domain is represented by contributions from Nuclear Electric and August Computers. Then there are papers on maintainability, Ada, reverse engineering, social issues, formal methods, and medical systems, all in the context of safety. And, of course, it is not possible to keep the 'new' technologies out of the safety-critical domain: there are papers on neural networks from the University of Exeter and knowledge-based systems from ERA Technology.




Safety-Critical Systems: The Convergence of High Tech and Human Factors


Book Description

Safety-critical systems, in the sense of software-based systems used in safety critical applications, are 'high-tech'. They are products of modern technology. Their effective, efficient and safe functioning depends not only on the devel opment of the right technologies but also on the right use of them. The safety of a system may be compromised not only by faults in the system but also by the use in the first place of an unreliable, unsafe, or unproved technology in its development. The key to the development and use of both technologies and systems is the human being. Until recently, the importance of human involvement, other than at the direct operational level, was hardly admitted. But now the unreliability of humans is recognised, as is the potential for latent faults to be introduced into systems at any point in their life cycles, by all who are in volved with them, including designers and strategic decision makers.




Current Issues in Safety-Critical Systems


Book Description

Current Issues in Safety-Critical Systems contains the invited papers presented at the eleventh annual Safety-critical Systems Symposium, held in February 2003. The safety-critical systems domain is rapidly expanding and its industrial problems are always candidates for academic research. It embraces almost all industry sectors; current issues in one are commonly appropriate to others. The Safety-critical System Symposium provides an annual forum for discussing such issues. The papers contained within this volume cover a broad range of subjects. They represent a great deal of industrial experience as well as some academic research. All the papers are linked by addressing current issues in safety-critical systems: Dependability Requirements Engineering; Human Error Management; Influences on Risk; Safety Cases; Reforming the Law; Safety Management and Safety Standards.




Practical Elements of Safety


Book Description

Practical Elements of Safety contains the invited papers presented at the Twelfth annual Safety-critical Systems Symposium, held at Birmingham, UK in February 2004. The papers included in this volume focus on the themes of the identification and analysis of risk - using the UK railway as an industry example; safety-integrity levels; industrial use of formal methods; as well as expanding on the development, assessment and changing face of current safety issues. All the papers are linked within the broad context of safety-critical systems actvities and offer a practical perspective. Papers contain industrial experience, as well as academic research, and are presented under the headings of: Mature and Practical Formality, Managing Risk in the Railway Industry, Safety Integrity Levels, the Human Side of Risk, Assessment and the Derivation of Evidence, and Safety Argument and the Law.




A Practical Guide to Security Engineering and Information Assurance


Book Description

Today the vast majority of the world's information resides in, is derived from, and is exchanged among multiple automated systems. Critical decisions are made, and critical action is taken based on information from these systems. Therefore, the information must be accurate, correct, and timely, and be manipulated, stored, retrieved, and exchanged s




Making Systems Safer


Book Description

Making Systems Safer contains the papers presented at the eighteenth annual Safety-critical Systems Symposium, held at Bristol, UK, in February 2010. The Symposium is for engineers, managers and academics in the field of system safety, across all industry sectors, so the papers making up this volume offer a wide-ranging coverage of current safety topics, and a blend of academic research and industrial experience. They include both recent developments in the field and discussion of open issues that will shape future progress. The first paper reflects a tutorial – on Formalization in Safety Cases – held on the first day of the Symposium. The subsequent 15 papers are presented under the headings of the Symposium’s sessions: Perspectives on Systems Safety, Managing Safety-Related Projects, Transport Safety, Safety Standards, Safety Competencies and Safety Methods. The book will be of interest to both academics and practitioners working in the safety-critical systems arena.




Requirements Engineering for Safety-Critical Systems


Book Description

Safety-Critical Systems (SCS) are increasingly present in people's daily activities. In the means of transport, in medical treatments, in industrial processes, in the control of air, land, maritime traffic, and many other situations, we use and depend on SCS. The requirements engineering of any system is crucial for the proper development of the same, and it becomes even more relevant for the development of SCS. Requirements Engineering is a discipline that focuses on the development of techniques, methods, processes, and tools that assist in the design of software and systems, covering the activities of elicitation, analysis, modeling and specification, validation, and management of requirements. The complete specification of system requirements establishes the basis for its architectural design. It offers a description of the functional and quality aspects that should guide the implementation and system evolution. In this book, we discuss essential elements of requirements engineering applied to SCS, such as the relationship between safety/hazard analysis and requirements specification, a balance between conservative and agile methodologies during SCS development, the role of requirements engineering in safety cases, and requirements engineering maturity model for SCS. This book provides relevant insights for professionals, students, and researchers interested in improving the quality of the SCS development process, making system requirements a solid foundation for improving the safety and security of future systems.




Developments in Risk-based Approaches to Safety


Book Description

This book assembles papers presented at the 14th Annual Safety-critical Systems Symposium, held at Bristol, UK in February 2006. The papers address the most critical topics in the field of safety-critical systems. The focus, considered from various perspectives, is on recent developments in risk-based approaches. Subjects discussed include innovation in risk analysis, management risk, the safety case, software safety, language development and the creation of systems for complex control functions.