A Fault Propagation Model for Embedded Software

Abstract

With the the ever increasing advancement of technology, embedded software has becomes more and more complex, making it difficult to perform fault propagation analysis, understanding fault propagation in embedded software is important toward improving the reliability of the whole system. There is a significant amount of published works regarding fault propagation analysis, however much of this researches neglects to correctly model fault propagation as it applies to embedded software. In this paper, we will study the fault propagation from the perspective of signals and construct a fault propagation model based on the cellular automate(CA). On the basis of our analysis to the fault propagation in signal level, we will consider the difference between the software failure's effect and the hardware failure's effect. To conclude, we simulate a digital anti-skid braking system in software using the CA fault propagation model and analyze the result of simulation.