Automated generation of reliability models

The abstract semi-Markov specification interface to the SURE (Semi-Markov Range Evaluator) tool (ASSIST) program allows the user to describe a Markov model in a high-level language. Instead of listing the individual states of the model, the user specifies rules governing the behavior of the system, which are used to automatically generate the model. A small number of statements in the abstract language can describe a large, complex model. Because no assumptions are made about the system being modelled, ASSIST can be used to generate models describing the behavior of any type of system. The abstract model definition and the automatic model generation strategy are described. Analysis of an example fault-tolerant architecture, a triad of processor with cold spare processors, shows how the behavior of a system can be captured by a few general rules