Title
The Determination Method for Software Reliability Qualitative Indices
Abstract
The determination of software reliability indices is the primary task in the software reliability engineering. The indices are taken as not only the basis for the software reliability design and the constraints during the software development process, but also the foundation of the software's acceptance. Software reliability indices are usually divided into quantitative indices and qualitative indices. Quantitative indices are quantified software reliability parameters' values, such as software reliability is quantitatively defined as the probability of failure-free operation of a software program for a specified time under specified conditions. However, having a “number”, even with the appropriate accompanying evidence, is not generally sufficient to convince customers or even the system/software suppliers that the software satisfies its requirements. Thus, qualitative indices such as software reliability is also qualitatively defined as a set of attributes that bear on the capability of software to maintain its level of performance under stated conditions for a stated period of time. Attributes that relate to implementation of fault tolerance design, use of best engineering practices, application of specialized methods and techniques for ensuring reliability-critical requirements, and procedural methods to ensure mistake-proof loading and/or operation also provide evidence that improves the confidence that the software will not cause a system failure. So the qualitative indices can be regarded as the requirements for software reliability activities throughout the development process. Unfortunately, currently there is no systematic theory and approach for software reliability indices' determination. This paper proposes a method for determining the software reliability qualitative indices based on the two standards of SAE-JAI 003 and RTCA DO-I 78B which are widely used by the airworthiness and industrial sectors, as well as the best practices and- management experiences of software reliability engineering. This paper proposes the method's principle, which determines the software reliability qualitative indices according to the profile formed by all stages of the software life cycle and the environment requirements, technique requirements, validation requirements and management requirements. Combined with the software's criticality levels, this paper also proposes a generic framework which recommends a variety of tailoring mechanisms and building guidelines to help users develop their demanded indices.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1109/SERE.2013.17
SERE
Keywords
Field
DocType
software reliability constraint,fault tolerance design,procedural method,software program,software reliability,standards,sae-jai 003 standard,software reliability index,software reliability parameter,tailoring mechanism,software reliability engineering,reliability-critical requirement,indices demonstration,qualitative index,software reliability qualitative indices,software life cycle,determination method,airworthiness sector,indices determination,software reliability design,industrial sector,best engineering practice,quantitative index,software development process,software acceptance,software reliability activity,failure-free operation probability,generic framework,quantitative indice,rtca do-i 78b standard,qualitative indices,software reliability qualitative,reliability engineering,testing
Software engineering,Software reliability testing,Software metric,Engineering,Software construction,Software verification and validation,Software requirements specification,Software sizing,Reliability engineering,Software measurement,Software requirements
Conference
ISSN
ISBN
Citations 
2378-3877
978-1-4799-0406-8
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
1
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Qiuying Li132.80
Lei Luo25612.41
Jun Ai342.49