Specification-level integration of simulation and dependability analysis

Software architectural choices have a profound influence on the quality attributes supported by a system. Architecture analysis can be used to evaluate the influence of design decisions on important quality attributes such as maintainability, performance and dependability. As software architecture gains appreciation as a critical design level for software systems, techniques and tools to support testing, understanding, debugging and maintaining these architectures are expected to become readily available. In addition to providing the desired support, data collected from these tools also provides a rich source of information from the point of view of performance and dependability analysis of the architecture. This paper presents a performance and dependability analysis methodology which illustrates the use of such data. The methodology thus seeks a three way integration of distinct and important areas, namely, formal specification, specification simulation/testing and performance and dependability analysis. We illustrate the key steps in the methodology with the help of a case study. © Springer-Verlag 2003.

Duke Scholars

Author Kishor S. Trivedi Electrical and Computer Engineering