Safety and Dependability Analysis of Self-Adaptive Systems

In this paper we present a technique for safety analysis of self-adaptive systems with formal methods. Self-adaptive systems are characterized by the ability to dynamically (self-)adapt and reorganize. The aim of this approach is to make the systems more dependable. But in general it is unclear how big the benefit is - compared to a traditional design. We propose a dependability analysis based on the results of safety analysis to measure the quality of self-x capabilities of an adaptive system with formal methods. This is important for unbiased and evidence-based decision making in early design phases. To illustrate the results we show the application of the method to a case study from the domain of production automation.