Automated safety analysis of machine control system - A reality?

VTT has been combining analysis and testing techniques in HILFI project. The research project has concentrated on facilitating verification and validation of dependability and safety requirements by applying fault injection method in conjunction with a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) prototyping system. The focus is especially on software testing, but the hardware failures related to I/O interface can also be analyzed. The method is going to speed up software testing of working machine. The final tests still need to be tested in the real application, but many errors will be found in much earlier phase of the product life cycle. However, the hardware-in-the-loop and fault injection units need a lot of components and connections, which can be vulnerable to disturbances and malfunction. This can be a challenge to long batch programs that execute automated analysis.