Integration of dependability in a task allocation problem

The task allocation on various components or processing units composing an automation system needs a design-aided methodology in order to obtain both relevant architecture of this automation system and a sufficiently efficient task allocation. The dependability, mainly illustrated in our approach by the availability of the process and by the reliability that characterizes the risk of incidents or accident occurrences, can be taken into account in the earliest stage of the automation system design. The main interest is that it allows for the definition of reliable operational and functional architectures. To achieve the task allocation, the search method used must integrate a notion of cost that includes both technological and functional aspects and those linked to the dependability. A genetic approach is used for the task allocation, giving a very satisfactory result in a reasonable computational time.