An open layered architecture for dependability analysis and its application

The author presents a proposal for an open layered architecture for dependability analysis, corresponding to the respective levels of abstraction. The motivation for this reference architecture is to support structuring, reusability, and variability of methods and tools. Each of the seven layers is discussed in detail, and the correspondence with currently available tools for dependability analysis is shown by examples. To demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, the layered architecture is used as a basis for design and implementation of MARPLE, a tool for dependability analysis of distributed systems. MARPLE mainly concentrates on the application layer and the model-generation layer. It is embedded in a system-design environment and bridges the gap between the design tool and dependability analysis.<>