Research on AADL Model for Qualitative Safety Analysis of Embedded Systems

As embedded software is taking an important part in safety critical filed, how to ensure the safety of safety-critical software has recently become a research focus. Developing safety-critical and highly reliable systems almost always includes significant emphasis on safety analysis and risk assessment. There have been substantial improvements in automation and formalization of other aspects of critical system engineering. However, safety analysis and risk assessment are still largely manual and informal activities and tool support is limited. In this paper, we propose a qualitative safety analysis method of embedded system based on AADL (Architecture Analysis & Design Language) model. Firstly, we extend the Error Model Annex with the R-FMSE (Risk-based Failure Mode Safety Effect) property to express the failure mode formally. Then, we give a detail illustration for qualitative safety analysis based on AADL model. Thirdly, we give a algorithm to develop a R-FMSE analysis Eclipse plug-in to realize the automation of the method. On using the Isolette system (an infant incubator), a case study is demonstrated the feasibility of this method.