Detection of Functional Failure and Verification of Safety Requirements Using Meta-Models in the Model-Based Design of Safety-Critical Systems

Modern systems have become more and more complex due to the ever-increasing user requirements and rapid advance of technology. As such, the frequency of accidents due to system design errors or failure has been increasing. When the damage incurred by accidents to human beings or property is serious, the underlying systems are referred to as safety-critical systems. The development of such systems requires special efforts to ensure the safety of the human beings operating them. To cope with such a requirement, in this paper an approach is employed in which we consider safety starting from the conceptual design phase of the systems. Specifically, a systems design method that can detect functional failure is proposed by utilizing meta-models and M&S methods. To accomplish this, the safety design data from international safety standards are first extracted and also a meta-model is generated using SysML (systems modeling language). Then, a SysML-based system design method is proposed based on the use of the developed meta-model. We also discuss how the safety requirements can be created and verified using a simulation method. Finally, through a case study in automotive design, it is demonstrated that the detection of a functional failure and the verification of a safety requirement can be accomplished using the SysML-based M&S method. This study indicates that the use of meta-models can be useful for collecting and managing safety data and that the meta-model based M&S method can make it possible to satisfy the system requirements by reducing the design errors.