Model-based validation of safety-critical embedded systems

Safety-critical systems have become increasingly software reliant and the current development process of ¿build, then integrate¿ has become unaffordable. This paper examines two major contributors to today´s exponential growth in cost: system-level faults that are not discovered until late in the development process; and multiple truths of analysis results when predicting system properties through model-based analysis and validating them against system implementations. We discuss the root causes of such system-level problems, and an architecture-centric model-based analysis approach of different operational quality aspects from an architecture model. A key technology is the SAE Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL) standard for embedded software-reliant system. It supports a single source approach to analysis of operational qualities such as responsiveness, safety-criticality, security, and reliability through model annotations. The paper concludes with a summary of an industrial case study that demonstrates the feasibility of this approach.