The term dependability was defined in the 1980s to encompass aspects like fault tolerance and system reliability. According to IFIP, it is defined as the trustworthiness of a computing system which allows reliance to be justifiably placed on the service it delivers. Hence, dependability is the capability of a system to successfully and safely complete its mission. This chapter concentrates on safety and reliability aspects. It starts with a review of the basic terminology including, for example, fault, failure, availability, and integrity. In the following, a mathematical model of fault-tolerant systems is defined. It is used in the further sections for comparison with different techniques for safety and reliability analysis. Also selected currently available model-based development tools are reviewed. A summary and identification of future research challenges conclude the chapter.     «

The term dependability was defined in the 1980s to encompass aspects like fault tolerance and system reliability. According to IFIP, it is defined as the trustworthiness of a computing system which allows reliance to be justifiably placed on the service it delivers. Hence, dependability is the capability of a system to successfully and safely complete its mission. This chapter concentrates on safety and reliability aspects. It starts with a review of the basic terminology including, for example,...     »