On Creation and Analysis of Reliability Models by Means of Stochastic Timed Automata and Statistical Model Checking: Principle

The paper presents a method for creation and analysis of reliability models by means of stochastic timed automata and statistical model checking approach available in the UPPAAL SMC tool; its application is expected in, but not limited to, the area of electronic systems. The method can be seen as an alternative to classical analytic approaches based on instruments such as fault-tree or Markov reliability models of the above-specified systems. By the means of the method, reliability analysis of systems can be facilitated even for adverse conditions such as inconstant failure (hazard) rate of system components, various fault scenarios or dependencies among components and/or faults. Moreover, the method is applicable to dynamic, evolvable/reconfigurable systems able to add, remove their components and/or change their parameters at run-time; last but not least, it can be utilized to analyze and study reliability in the context of further system parameters such as liveness, safety and/or timing, power and other, application-specific, constraints. A solution to the related problems is far beyond the scope of recent methods.