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SAFETY AND RELIABILITY ISSUES IN SAFETY‐RELATED SYSTEMS
Author(s) -
Zucconi Lin
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1992.tb01548.x
Subject(s) - reliability (semiconductor) , work (physics) , computer science , risk analysis (engineering) , system safety , software , reliability engineering , engineering , computer security , business , mechanical engineering , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
The increasing number of accidents attributed to computer‐based systems is causing increased public awareness of the risk associated with these systems' use in safety‐related applications. Examples include the Therac‐25 medical LINAC deaths, the growing number of Airbus A320 crashes, the AT&T Long‐Lines disaster on Martin Luther King Day in 1990, the spate of regional telephone outages of the summer of 1991, and many more. How do safety and reliability sometimes conflict? What practical computer system and software development technologies and processes can be applied to increase the safety and reliability of computer systems? What are the technical and managerial issues contributing to the construction of less‐than‐safe computer‐based systems? How can systems engineers and software engineers work together to address the issues related safety and reliability of computer systems? This paper will address these topics and include an assessment of the best current state‐of‐the‐practice and of upcoming technologies that will carry us into the 21st century.