System Dependability
Optional module – Route B
15 credits
This module takes a broad socio-technical perspective on system dependability, considering a wide range of reliability, availability, safety and security attributes. The focus of the content is not limited solely to software or hardware, but encompasses human and organisational considerations as well. This provides students with a unique "big picture" perspective not found in other similar courses.
This module draws from the wealth of experience and understanding gained from cutting-edge research in the area of dependability. The module provides students with a solid grounding in dependability theory combined with supporting insights gained from years of in-the-field ethnographic investigation of real world systems. Students will gain a broad socio-technical understanding of dependability, and will learn to apply a range of different analysis and improvement approaches.
At the end of the module, students will be able to assess and discuss dependability attributes of a system as well as having an appreciation of dependability conflicts present in such systems.
Syllabus
- Critical systems and system dependability; real-time issues and criticality (hard vs soft criticality).
- Factors: environmental, hardware design and construction, operator interface, cognition, ethnographic.
- Constraints: predictability, speed, reliability, adaptability, timing.
- The brain as an engineering system. Human factor and ethnographic constraints on critical systems
