Software Safety

Software requires special attention in system planning, architecture, design and test. This course presents philosophies and methods of developing and analyzing software and highlights managing a software safety program. Software design principles will be taught to create programs that are fault tolerant and acceptably safe. Several software hazard analyses methods will be evaluated, including Fault Tree/Soft Tree, Software Sneak Analysis and Petri Nets.

Objectives: To provide an understanding of the nature of software hazards, root causes, and the methods by which these hazards may be prevented or discovered. The course will also provide instruction in administrative methods and documentation needed to establish and manage a software safety program. Providing evidence for a safety case or proof will also be covered.

Who Should Attend: System managers and engineers, system safety engineers and software engineers who are involved with developing systems that possess major software components and are responsible for the safety of such systems. Attending the System Safety Engineering course and some understanding of software beforehand is highly recommended.

Course Outline

1. Software
       Safety Overview
       Definitions and Concepts
       Design Requirements
       Software Regulations/References
       System Safety Team Organization
       Risk Processing/Management
       Risk by Agency
           Hazard and Security
           Catastrophic
           Probability of Occurrence
       Reliability Issues
       Probability
       Hazard Consideration/Analysis
       Risk Assessment and Risk Levels
       Program Documentation
       Software Reliability/Risk
       Software Engineering/Requirements
       Software Safety Life Cycle Goals
       Security Engineering
       VDHL Synthesis
       Error Classification and Types
       Software Safety Requirements Traceability
       Petri-Net Modeling
       Software Safety Checklist
       Preliminary Hazard Analysis
       Software Language Analysis
       Fault Tree Analysis
       Formal Mathematical Models
       Software Safety Testing
           Testing Schemes/Strategies
       Software Safety Reliability/Maintenance
2. References
       Joint Software Systems Safety Engineering Handbook, 2010 version
       Generic Software Systems Safety Program Plan
       NASA Dryden Flight Research, FAA Software Safety, Office of Secretary of Defense Safety websites
       Mishap reports: Ariane 5, NASA Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, Lauda 767
       MIL STD 882-E
       Java Safety Guidelines
       Software Reliability Newsletter