Modular Construction of Dependability Models from System Architecture Models: A Tool-Supported Approach

Model based dependability analysis can be used to evaluate the effects of architectural choices on system level availability and reliability. In component based systems the dependability model is built typically from sub-models that are assigned to components or subsystems and represent the local fault occurrences and error propagation. We describe the design and application of a tool that is able to construct the system level dependability model from these sub-models automatically, on the basis of the architecture model of the system. In our tool currently UML architecture model and stochastic activity networks dependability model formalism are supported.