MAFALDA-RT: a tool for dependability assessment of real-time systems

This paper presents a new prototype tool called MAFALDA-RT (Microkernel Assessment by Fault injection AnaLysis and Design Aid for Real Time systems) that is aimed at the dependability assessment of real-time systems. The tool proposes a novel method to cope with the problem of temporal intrusiveness caused by the use of SWIFI. In addition to typical failure modes (e.g., application hang, system hang, exception, etc), the observation capabilities of MAFALDA-RT extend to temporal measurements characterizing both the executive and application layers (e.g., task processing, task synchronization, context-switch, system calls, etc.). The usefulness of the tool is illustrated by a set of results of a significant case study, based on a real time system consisting of the Chorus microkernel and a mine drainage control application.