CeDICT
Centre for Dependable ICT Systems
What is dependability?
An ICT-system is called dependable if reliance can justifiably be placed on the services it delivers.
Why is dependability an issue?
In the past, dependability of systems was an explicit design issue for mission-critical systems only, like in aeronautics and aerospace. Nowadays, ICT systems are used as part of an ever-growing variety of applications, for which high costs are incurred in case of malfunctioning, or for which the malfunctioning can disrupt (parts of) society. Examples include all kinds of embedded systems (TVs, media players), logistics and traffic control, communications systems, but also e-commerce and medical systems.
Why are systems not dependable?
1. |
ICT systems include more and more software which is notoriously not error-free |
2. |
The interaction of software and hardware and the fact that most current ICT systems are distributed, makes designing error-free systems an illusion |
3. |
The ever decreasing feature size of the hardware components increases the chances for hardware induced errors |
4. |
Communication takes more and more place over error-prone wireless links |
5. |
ICT systems are not only being used by specialists; in practice this means that faults can be caused by human operators or system users. |
Dependability comes in many disguises!
Dependability constraints and properties depend on the ICT application area:
1. |
for an e-commerce web-service, dependability is the maximum downtime per annum or service availability |
2. |
for a critical networking infrastructure, dependability is continuous connectivity and small delays |
3. |
for a communication service, dependability is the unrecognized packet error rate |
4. |
for an embedded system, dependability is the timeliness of executed control |
What will CeDICT do?
The goal of CeDICT is to develop and apply methods and techniques to make dependable ICT systems a reality. Within CeDICT, we view dependability as a system-wide issue that has to be addressed as such, given a limited dependability budget.
What means do we have?
The four means we have to achieve (more) dependability systems are:
1. |
avoiding design faults, that is, fault prevention |
2. |
applying fault-tolerance mechanisms (replication in time, space or information) |
3. |
fault removal encompasses the techniques and strategies to find and remove faults, both in the design, test and operational phase of the system |
4. |
fault forecasting encompasses the techniques to predict the occurrence of faults, be it statically (at design and implementation time) or dynamically (at operational time) |
How do we express dependability?
Best known dependability properties are availability, reliability, safety, confidentiality, integrity and maintainability. These properties have to be expressed as measurable quantities. Trust is accepted dependency.
How do we design dependable ICT systems?
To achieve dependability, the design process needs to be founded in a rigorous framework for hard- and software co-design such that design alternatives, based on the dependability means, can be compared and evaluated with respect to the required measurable dependability properties. To be ready for changing circumstances and needs, dependable ICT needs to be self-reconfiguring and self-managing.
How do we certify ICT dependability?
System modeling and analysis as part of the ICT design process, plays a crucial role in certifying guaranteed dependability. Where classical dependability evaluation focused on hardware faults only, the inclusion of software in the evaluation process becomes crucial, in order to address ICT systems as a whole. The integration of methods and techniques for model verification (model checking) and techniques for classical dependability evaluation (stochastic processes) is most promising.
Who will play in CeDICT?
These are the CeDICT Research Groups.
New chairs will be hired on Dependable Ad Hoc Networking, Dependable Multimedia Processing (TUD), Short-Range Radio), Formal Methods and Tools (UT), Embedded System Security) and Network Communication Protocols (TU/e).
How to reach CeDICT?
NIRICT/CeDICT secretariat, phone: +31-53-4898031, mail: info@nirict.nl.
For more information about CeDICT click here.