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High Integrity Software
High-integrity software is software whose failure may cause serious damage with possible "life-threatening consequences." “Integrity is important as it demonstrates the safety, security, and maintainability of… code.” Examples of high-integrity software are nuclear reactor control, avionics software, and process control software. A number of standards are applicable to high-integrity software, including: * DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification * CENELEC EN 50128, Railway applications - Communication, signalling and processing systems - Software for railway control and protection systems * IEC 61508, Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety-related Systems (E/E/PE, or E/E/PES) See also * Safety-critical system * High availability software * Formal methods * Software of unknown pedigree SOUP stands for software of unknown (or uncertain) pedigree (or provenance), and is a term often used in the context ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists of machine language instructions supported by an individual processor—typically a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU). Machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value stored in a particular storage location in the computer—an effect that is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also invoke one of many input or output operations, for example displaying some text on a computer screen; causing state changes which should be visible to the user. The processor executes the instructions in the order they are provided, unless it is instructed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid (water or gas), which in turn runs through steam turbines. These either drive a ship's propellers or turn electrical generators' shafts. Nuclear generated steam in principle can be used for industrial process heat or for district heating. Some reactors are used to produce isotopes for medical and industrial use, or for production of weapons-grade plutonium. , the International Atomic Energy Agency reports there are 422 nuclear power reactors and 223 nuclear research reactors in operation around the world. In the early era of nuclear reactors (1940s), a reactor was known as a nuclear pile or atomic pile (so-called because the graphite moderator blocks of the first reactor were placed into a tall pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avionics
Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to perform individual functions. These can be as simple as a searchlight for a police helicopter or as complicated as the tactical system for an airborne early warning platform. History The term "avionics" was coined in 1949 by Philip J. Klass, senior editor at ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'' magazine as a portmanteau of "aviation electronics". Radio communication was first used in aircraft just prior to World War I. The first Airborne radio relay, airborne radios were in zeppelins, but the military sparked development of light radio sets that could be carried by heavier-than-air craft, so that aerial reconnaissance biplanes could report their observations immediately in case ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Process Control
An industrial process control in continuous production processes is a discipline that uses industrial control systems to achieve a production level of consistency, economy and safety which could not be achieved purely by human manual control. It is implemented widely in industries such as automotive, mining, dredging, oil refining, pulp and paper manufacturing, chemical processing and power generating plants. There is a wide range of size, type and complexity, but it enables a small number of operators to manage complex processes to a high degree of consistency. The development of large industrial process control systems was instrumental in enabling the design of large high volume and complex processes, which could not be otherwise economically or safely operated. The applications can range from controlling the temperature and level of a single process vessel, to a complete chemical processing plant with several thousand control loops. History Early process control breakthrou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DO-178C
DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification is the primary document by which the certification authorities such as FAA, EASA and Transport Canada approve all commercial software-based aerospace systems. The document is published by RTCA, Incorporated, in a joint effort with EUROCAE, and replaces DO-178B. The new document is called DO-178C/ED-12C and was completed in November 2011 and approved by the RTCA in December 2011. It became available for sale and use in January 2012. Except for FAR 33/JAR E, the Federal Aviation Regulations do not directly reference software airworthiness. On 19 Jul 2013, the FAA approved AC 20-115C, designating DO-178C a recognized "acceptable means, but not the only means, for showing compliance with the applicable FAR airworthiness regulations for the software aspects of airborne systems and equipment certification." Background Since the release of DO-178B, there had been strong calls by DERs (FAA Designated Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IEC 61508
IEC 61508 is an international standard published by the International Electrotechnical Commission consisting of methods on how to apply, design, deploy and maintain automatic protection systems called safety-related systems. It is titled ''Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety-related Systems'' (E/E/PE, or E/E/PES). IEC 61508 is a basic functional safety standard applicable to all industries. It defines functional safety as: “part of the overall safety relating to the EUC (Equipment Under Control) and the EUC control system which depends on the correct functioning of the E/E/PE safety-related systems, other technology safety-related systems and external risk reduction facilities.” The fundamental concept is that any safety-related system must work correctly or fail in a predictable (safe) way. The standard has two fundamental principles: # An engineering process called the safety life cycle is defined based on best practices in order to disc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Safety-critical System
A safety-critical system (SCS) or life-critical system is a system whose failure or malfunction may result in one (or more) of the following outcomes: * death or serious injury to people * loss or severe damage to equipment/property * environmental harm A safety-related system (or sometimes safety-involved system) comprises everything (hardware, software, and human aspects) needed to perform one or more safety functions, in which failure would cause a significant increase in the safety risk for the people or environment involved. Safety-related systems are those that do not have full responsibility for controlling hazards such as loss of life, severe injury or severe environmental damage. The malfunction of a safety-involved system would only be that hazardous in conjunction with the failure of other systems or human error. Some safety organizations provide guidance on safety-related systems, for example the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the United Kingdom. Risks of thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Availability Software
High availability software is software used to ensure that systems are running and available most of the time. High availability is a high percentage of time that the system is functioning. It can be formally defined as (1 – (down time/ total time))*100%. Although the minimum required availability varies by task, systems typically attempt to achieve 99.999% (5-nines) availability. This characteristic is weaker than fault tolerance, which typically seeks to provide 100% availability, albeit with significant price and performance penalties. High availability software is measured by its performance when a subsystem fails, its ability to resume service in a state close to the state of the system at the time of the original failure, and its ability to perform other service-affecting tasks (such as software upgrade or configuration changes) in a manner that eliminates or minimizes down time. All faults that affect availability – hardware, software, and configuration need to be add ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formal Methods
In computer science, formal methods are mathematically rigorous techniques for the specification, development, and verification of software and hardware systems. The use of formal methods for software and hardware design is motivated by the expectation that, as in other engineering disciplines, performing appropriate mathematical analysis can contribute to the reliability and robustness of a design. Formal methods employ a variety of theoretical computer science fundamentals, including logic calculi, formal languages, automata theory, control theory, program semantics, type systems, and type theory. Background Semi-Formal Methods are formalisms and languages that are not considered fully “formal”. It defers the task of completing the semantics to a later stage, which is then done either by human interpretation or by interpretation through software like code or test case generators. Taxonomy Formal methods can be used at a number of levels: Level 0: Formal specification may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Of Unknown Pedigree
SOUP stands for software of unknown (or uncertain) pedigree (or provenance), and is a term often used in the context of safety-critical and safety-involved systems such as medical software. SOUP is software that has not been developed with a known software development process or methodology, or which has unknown or no safety-related properties. Often, engineering projects are faced with economic or other pressure to embody SOUP into their high integrity systems. The problem with SOUP is that it cannot be relied upon to perform safety-related functions, and it may prevent other software, hardware or firmware from performing their safety-related functions. The SOUP problem is therefore one of insulating the safety-involved parts of a system from the SOUP and its undesirable effects. SOUP is now a defined term ("Software Of Unknown Provenance") in some medical device regulations through the standard IEC 62304:2006 "medical device software – software life cycle processes". It is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software By Type
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists of machine language instructions supported by an individual processor—typically a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU). Machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value stored in a particular storage location in the computer—an effect that is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also invoke one of many input or output operations, for example displaying some text on a computer screen; causing state changes which should be visible to the user. The processor executes the instructions in the order they are provided, unless it is instructed to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Quality
In the context of software engineering, software quality refers to two related but distinct notions: * Software functional quality reflects how well it complies with or conforms to a given design, based on functional requirements or specifications. That attribute can also be described as the fitness for purpose of a piece of software or how it compares to competitors in the marketplace as a worthwhile product. It is the degree to which the correct software was produced. * Software structural quality refers to how it meets non-functional requirements that support the delivery of the functional requirements, such as robustness or maintainability. It has a lot more to do with the degree to which the software works as needed. Many aspects of structural quality can be evaluated only statically through the analysis of the software inner structure, its source code (see Software metrics), at the unit level, system level (sometimes referred to as end-to-end testing), which is in effect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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