Automatic specification of reliability models for fault-tolerant computers
Carlos A. Liceaga, Daniel P. Siewiorek · NASA Technical Reports Server (NASA) · 1993
Semi-Markov Specification Interface to the SURE Tool) program, which uses an abstract language for specifying Markov reliability models, is described in Butler (1986). The language has statements to specify the state space, by defining the state variables and their range; the start state, by the initial values of the state variables; the death states, by a Boolean expression of the state variables; and the state transitions, by a set of if-then rules that define, in terms of the state variables, the possible transitions, their rates, and their destination states. This language has been implemented in the ASSIST program to generate Markov reliability models in the SURE input language (Johnson 1986). The implementation provides three optional state space reduction techniques. The first technique is pruning the model during its generation by conservatively assuming system failure once a state satisfies a prune condition specified as a Boolean expression of the state variables (Johnson 198...