Fault tolerance via diversity against design faults (tutorial session): design principles and reliability assessment

the motivations behind the use of software fault tolerance, and thus the circumstances in which it should be considered as a possible choice;

what design schemes one may adopt, and which issues a designer needs to be aware of, for effective application. We present both examples of industrial use and explanations of the important design choices and trade-offs. In this part, we cover the widely published solutions of N-version programming and recovery blocks, but also describe the various options available to a designer, and interesting specific solutions adopted in the railway and aviation industry, and scheme for applications to safety systems. We discuss the factors that may decide the scheme to be adopted and the design of adjudication between conflicting results;

“what one should really believe” about the effectiveness of software fault tolerance in improving reliability, beyond the controversy and the misunderstandings surrounding it. We give a picture, assembled from more than 10 years of research, of what evidence has really been produced for and against software diversity. We explain the weaknesses of the extreme opinions voiced for and against software fault tolerance, and discuss the criteria that should affect practical decisions about using it, about how to improve its effectiveness by appropriate decisions in developing alternate versions of software components, and about its value for system acceptance.