A Theoretical Basis for the Analysis of Multiversion Software Subject to Coincident Errors

Fundamental to the development of redundant software techniques (known as fault-tolerant software) is an understanding of the impact of multiple joint occurrences of errors, referred to here as coincident errors. A theoretical basis for the study of redundant software is developed which 1) provides...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE transactions on software engineering Vol. SE-11; no. 12; pp. 1511 - 1517
Main Authors Eckhardt, D.E., Lee, L.D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Legacy CDMS IEEE 01.12.1985
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IEEE Computer Society
Subjects
Aerospace electronics
Application software
Applied sciences
Coincident errors
Computer Programming And Software
Control systems
Development
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Fault tolerance
Fault tolerant systems
fault-tolerant software
Hardware
intensity distribution
intensity of coincident errors
Mathematical models
multiversion software
N-version programming
Population
Probability
Programming profession
Random variables
Redundancy
Reliability
reliability of redundant software
Software
Software engineering
Software reliability
Software safety
Techniques
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Summary:Fundamental to the development of redundant software techniques (known as fault-tolerant software) is an understanding of the impact of multiple joint occurrences of errors, referred to here as coincident errors. A theoretical basis for the study of redundant software is developed which 1) provides a probabilistic framework for empirically evaluating the effectiveness of a general multiversion strategy when component versions are subject to coincident errors, and 2) permits an analytical study of the effects of these errors. An intensity function, called the intensity of coincident errors, has a central role in this analysis. This function describes the propensity of programmers to introduce design faults in such a way that software components fail together when executing in the application environment. We give a condition under which a multiversion system is a better strategy than relying on a single version and we study some differences between the coincident errors model developed here and the model that assumes independent failures of component verions.
Bibliography:CDMS
Legacy CDMS
ISSN: 0098-5589
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SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0098-5589
1939-3520
DOI:10.1109/TSE.1985.231895