An automated environment for optimizing fault-tolerant systems designs

A description is given of the computer-aided Markov evaluation (CAME) program, a computer-aided engineering (CAE) tool that automatically generates Markov models directly from a system description, providing an environment for quickly evaluating probabilistic measures of a fault tolerant system´s performance. The CAME program provides an automated environment that aids a design in systematically optimizing a fault tolerant system design and, in the process, gaining insight and intuition about why the design behaves as it does. The overall processes incorporated in the CAME program are discussed with particular emphasis on its automated model reduction capabilities. An example is shown where the CAME program is used to optimize the design of a fault-tolerant, integrated navigation system