A methodology of human factors analysis for systems engineering:theory and applications

This paper discusses a methodology for studying human erroneous behavior that comprises four modeling phases, namely: (1) a paradigm of human behavior; (2) a taxonomy and related tables for human erroneous actions; (3) a set of data and correlations from the real working environment; and (4) a procedure for application of the methodology to different types of analysis, at different levels of complexity. The methodology has been developed to support possible applications of human factors to design and safety assessment of technological systems. The results of some applications are presented for prospective and retrospective studies in the domains of nuclear reactors and civil aviation     

rCOS: a formal model-driven engineering method for component-based software

Model-driven architecture (MDA) has become a main stream technology for software-intensive system design. The main engineering principle behind it is that the inherent complexity of software development can only be mastered by building, analyzing and manipulating system models. MDA also deals with system complexity by providing component-based design techniques, allowing independent component design, implementation and deployment, and then system integration and reconfiguration based on component interfaces. The model of a system in any stage is an integration of models of different viewpoints. Therefore, for a model-driven method to be applied effectively, it must provide a body of techniques and an integrated suite of tools for model construction, validation, and transformation. This requires a number of modeling notations for the specification of different concerns and viewpoints of the system. These notations should have formally defined syntaxes and a unified theory of semantics. The underlying theory of the method is needed to underpin the development of tools and correct use of tools in software development, as well as to formally verify and reason about properties of systems in mission-critical applications. The modeling notations, techniques, and tools must be designed so that they can be used seamlessly in supporting development activities and documentation of artifacts in software design processes. This article presents such a method, called the rCOS, focusing on the models of a system at different stages in a software development process, their semantic integration, and how they are constructed, analyzed, transformed, validated, and verified.     

Using formal methods for teaching software engineering: a tool-based approach

In this paper we describe and review the course plan and syllabus we use in a course on formal methods in software engineering currently included in the degree in Informatics of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Bologna. The course matches the theory of formal methods with their practice based on actual tool usage. In fact, the course is centered upon a project whose main goal is to let students learn some formal specification techniques, all supported by specific tools. The students use well-known notations for both requirements specification and formal design. The formal methods we use are based on the Z notation for requirements specification and on the Larch family of languages for design specifications.     

A methodology for engineering collaborative and ad-hoc mobile applications using SyD middleware

Today’s web applications are more collaborative and utilize standard and ubiquitous Internet protocols. We have earlier developed System on Mobile Devices (SyD) middleware to rapidly develop and deploy collaborative applications over heterogeneous and possibly mobile devices hosting web objects. In this paper, we present the software engineering methodology for developing SyD-enabled web applications and illustrate it through a case study on two representative applications: (i) a calendar of meeting application, which is a collaborative application and (ii) a travel application which is an ad-hoc collaborative application. SyD-enabled web objects allow us to create a collaborative application rapidly with limited coding effort. In this case study, the modular software architecture allowed us to hide the inherent heterogeneity among devices, data stores, and networks by presenting a uniform and persistent object view of mobile objects interacting through XML/SOAP requests and responses. The performance results we obtained show that the application scales well as we increase the group size and adapts well within the constraints of mobile devices.     

A rule-based system for verifying engineering specifications in industrial visual inspection applications

An important step in automatic visual inspection is verifying whether a part is good or bad, by comparing a list of inspection specifications to a list of extracted and measured defects. Our goal is to provide a general, flexible, and efficient solution to this problem. We present a solution following a rule-based approach for the case of specs for visual inspection of disk heads. However, due to the generality of our approach (within the realm of visual inspection), it is easily extendible to verification of specs in other visual inspection applications. While flexibility comes naturally with the rule-based approach, efficiency is still an issue. Therefore, we implemented two techniques to increase the efficiency of our system: one at the rule level, and one at the rule-matching level. We describe our implementation and show experimental results from applying our approach in an experimental system for automatic visual disk head inspection.     

Fault injection for dependability validation: a methodology andsome applications

The authors address the problem of validating the dependability of fault-tolerant computing systems, in particular, the validation of the fault-tolerance mechanisms. The proposed approach is based on the use of fault injection at the physical level on a hardware/software prototype of the system considered. The place of this approach in a validation-directed design process and with respect to related work on fault injection is clearly identified. The major requirements and problems related to the development and application of a validation methodology based on fault injection are presented and discussed. Emphasis is put on the definition, analysis, and use of the experimental dependability measures that can be obtained. The proposed methodology has been implemented through the realization of a general pin-level fault injection tool (MESSALINE), and its usefulness is demonstrated by the application of MESSALINE to the experimental validation of two systems: a subsystem of a centralized computerized interlocking system for railway control applications and a distributed system corresponding to the current implementation of the dependable communication system of the ESPRIT Delta-4 Project     

VSE: formal methods meet industrial needs

The Verification Support Environment (VSE) is a tool to formally specify and verify complex systems. It provides the means to structure specifications and supports the development process from the specification of a system to the automatic generation of code. Formal developments following the VSE method are stored and maintained in an administration system that guides the user and maintains a consistent state of development. An integrated deduction system provides proof support for the deduction problems arising during the development process. We describe the application of VSE to an industrial case study and give an overview of the enhanced VSE system and the VSE methodology.     

A deployment methodology of real-time industrial control applications in distributed controllers

This paper deals with the deployment of industrial control applications in distributed devices (considered as multi-tasking Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)). These applications are developed according to the component-based standard IEC 61499. In this standard, a function block is an event triggered component and the application is a network of distributed blocks on several devices. To deploy these blocks in feasible OS tasks of the execution support, we propose a hybrid scheduling approach allowing in particular to check according to specifications the temporal behavior of the application in devices and also on the communication network. This approach is based on static and dynamic policies. The static policy allows to construct OS tasks from function blocks, whereas the dynamic policy allows their scheduling at run-time.     

CPE: a parallel library for financial engineering applications

The Clustertech parallel environment is an object-oriented C++ library that uses abstractions to simplify parallel programming for financial engineering applications. The message passing interface ensures CPE's portability and performance over a wide range of parallel cluster and symmetric multiprocessing machines.     

A generic,formal language-based methodology for hierarchical floorplanning-placement

Floorplanning in 2-D or 3-D space is always a difficult and time consuming problem for automated manufacturing, storaging, civil engineering design and especially for the physical layout design cycle of the chip design automation. In particular, the physical layout cycle itself consists of several steps, such as partitioning, floorplanning, placement, synthesis, routing, and compaction, where the right placement of the appropriate components is the most important element of performance. In this paper, a generic floor-planning methodology is presented by offering a good solution to such problems. The methodology is based on the hierarchical cooperation of two context-free languages (Scan and Geometria). In order to achieve an acceptable planning, the Scan language defines the partitioning of the floor area and the global acquisition strategy (scan patterns) for the placement of the macro-blocks. On the other hand, the Geometria language deals with the local synthesis of the block under the constraints superimposed by global scan patterns. The results obtained by this methodology are very promising in comparison with other floorplanning methodologies.     

Experience on knowledge-based software engineering: A logic-based requirements language and its industrial applications

A formal requirements specification language plays an important role in software development. Not only can such language be used for stating requirements specification, but also can be used in many phases of software development life cycle. The FRORL project started from constructing a language with a solid logical foundation and further expanded to research in verification, validation, requirements analysis, debugging, and transformation. Research in this project aided in some industrial applications in which a code generation tool produced software for embedded systems. This article reports the experiences gained from this project and states the value of research in knowledge-based software engineering.     

A systematic mapping of semi-formal and formal methods in requirements engineering of industrial Cyber-Physical systems

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing - The requirements engineering of Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems is extremely challenging due to large system sizes, component heterogeneity, involvement of...     

DICOS: a real-time distributed industrial control system for embedded applications

The Fault-tolerant Systems Research Group of the Technical University of Valencia has developed the distributed industrial control system (DICOS) system. This paper describes DICOS nodes. The architecture of DICOS nodes and the error detection mechanisms used are presented. These mechanisms are based on the internal capabilities of the 16-bit microcontroller used and control flow checking and deadlines control with the aid of a second 8-bit microcontroller. Experimental results about the effectiveness of those mechanisms are shown in this paper.     

A knowledge-based system for the recycling of non-hazardous industrial residuals in civil engineering applications

Abstract: It is estimated that 4.6 billion tons of non‐hazardous solid waste materials are produced annually in the USA. The potential reuse for a portion of the materials in the construction of highways and roads suggests that valuable benefits in terms of economic and environmental gains are possible. This paper describes the development of a prototype computer‐assisted tool or expert system to help manufacturers assess and analyze their industrial residuals as potential road construction material. This represents an expansion in the application of intelligent systems to domains where a few, hard‐to‐find technical reports have represented the main source of expertise available to practitioners for years. The system, developed through the use of an object‐oriented software shell, Level5 Object, was designed in a user‐friendly Windows environment which allows users with little or no computer training to effectively evaluate material residuals.