ArChes -- Automatic generation of component fault trees from continuous function charts

TL;DR

This paper introduces ArChes, a method for automatically generating component fault trees from continuous function charts to improve safety analysis of embedded control software, reducing manual effort and enabling early verification.

Contribution

It presents a novel automated approach to derive fault trees from software specifications, enhancing safety analysis accuracy and efficiency.

Findings

Automated fault trees align with manual models.

Reduces manual effort in safety analysis.

Enables early verification of safety models.

Abstract

The growing size and complexity of software in embedded systems poses new challenges to the safety assessment of embedded control systems. In industrial practice, the control software is mostly treated as a black box during the system's safety analysis. The appropriate representation of the failure propagation of the software is a pressing need in order to increase the accuracy of safety analyses. However, it also increase the effort for creating and maintaining the safety analysis models (such as fault trees) significantly. In this work, we present a method to automatically generate Component Fault Trees from Continuous Function Charts. This method aims at generating the failure propagation model of the detailed software specification. Hence, control software can be included into safety analyses without additional manual effort required to construct the safety analysis models of the software. Moreover, safety analyses created during early system specification phases can be verified by comparing it with the automatically generated one in the detailed specification phased.