软件中的错误传播分析

错误传播是分析可靠性系统不确定性中的一基本问题,可用于发现系统中最易受到错误攻击的部分及各部分之间的相互影响.分别在信号和模块级别上研究了错误在软件中的传播过程,并定义了描述此过程的参数及其计算方法,其中首次提出了模块泄漏率和活动率的概念并给出了计算方法;然后把该错误传播分析框架应用于某卫星光纤陀螺捷联航姿控制系统上.通过故障注入实验确定了其中的分析参数,验证了提出的错误传播框架的可行性与正确性.

Error Propagation Analysis in Software

Error propagation is a basic problem in analyzing uncertainty of reliable systems. During software development and dependability testing, it would be helpful to have a framework that clearly demonstrates the error propagation and containment capabilities of the different software components. However, in the former study, only the propagation characteristic of data errors in signals is considered, not including the error-generating properties of software itself induced by environment. In this paper, another error propagation frame is proposed, which not only includes the error propagation process, but also involves the error-generating ability of software itself. And this frame may be used in the later period of software development or in the process of software dependability testing. In this frame, the error propagation process in software is studied and characterized and a set of metrics that quantitatively represent the inter-modular software interactions are derived. Furthermore, a real embedded target system used in a navigation-pose control system of a satellite is used to perform fault-injection experiments to obtain experimental values for the metrics proposed. The result shows that the derived analytical framework establishes a very close correlation between the analytical and experimental values obtained. The intent is to use this framework to be able to systematically identify potential vulnerabilities in software.