Development of a Test Facility and Its Application for Validation and Reliability Testing of Safety-Critical Software

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Zhao ◽  
N. Tailor
Keyword(s):  
Test Facility ◽  
Actual Process ◽  
Project Schedule ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Candu Reactors ◽  
Training Tool ◽  
Safety Critical ◽  
Functional Specification ◽  
System A ◽  
Plant Personnel

This paper describes a versatile test facility developed by AECL for validation and reliability (V&R) testing of safety-critical software used in the process trip computers for CANDU reactors. It describes the hardware and software aspects of the test facility. The test hardware consists of a test rig with a test computer used for executing the test software and a process trip computer emulator. The test software is comprised of an operating system, a test interpreter, a test oracle, and a man-machine interface. This paper also discusses the application of the test facility in V&R testing of the process trip computer, how test scripts are prepared and automatically run on the test computer, and how test results are automatically generated by the test computer, thus eliminating potential human errors. The test scripts, which contain specific instructions for testing, are text files written in a special AECL test language. An AECL Test Language Interpreter (ATLIN) program interprets the test scripts and translates structured English statements in the test scripts into test actions. The intuitive nature of the special AECL test language, the version controlled test scripts in text format and automatic test logging feature facilitate the preparation of test cases, which are easy to repeat, review and readily modifiable, and production of consistent results. This paper presents the concept of adding a process trip computer emulator for use in preparation of V&R testing. The process trip computer emulator is designed independently from the actual process trip computer but based on the same functional specification as for the process trip computer. The use of the process trip computer emulator allows the test scripts to be exercised before the actual process trip computers are available for V&R testing, thereby, resulting in a significant improvement to the project schedule. The test facility, with the built-in process trip computer emulator, is also a valuable training tool for the V&R staff and plant personnel.

Unmet Challenges to Successfully Mitigating Severe Accidents in Multi Unit CANDU Reactors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunil Nijhawan
Keyword(s):  
Safety Culture ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Reactor Safety ◽  
Candu Reactors ◽  
Safety Critical ◽  
Critical Design ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Severe Accidents ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
Safety Systems

Abstract One sees eerie similarities here in Canada to the cozy relationship between regulator and utilities in ‘pre-Fukushima’ Japan. Such ties are hardly limited to Canada though. The chronic degradation of real commitments to continued improvements in reactor safety systems and a decline in overall safety culture that discourages critical design reviews and willfully ignores well justified, safety critical hardware upgrades, has created alarming conditions that are likely inching us towards another nuclear disaster. Operating CANDU reactors are now close to being obsolete but have barely seen any substantive severe accident related risk reduction upgrades nine years after Fukushima, hoopla in Canada around some minor improvements and premature closure of even otherwise sparse and what were really weak regulatory ‘Fukushima Action Items’ notwithstanding.

Online monitoring for safety-critical multicore systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Tobuschat ◽  
Adam Kostrzewa ◽  
Falco K. Bapp ◽  
Christoph Dropmann
Keyword(s):  
Multicore Processors ◽  
Normal System ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Multicore Architectures ◽  
System Behavior ◽  
Multicore Systems ◽  
Safety Critical ◽  
System A ◽  
Software Execution ◽  
System Configurations

AbstractUsing multicore processors in safety-critical systems is a challenge as well as an opportunity. The real parallelism, which may affect synchronization and determinism, leads to a safety-challenge, because new possible interferences might arise. Additionally, redundant software execution is possible within multicore systems. In complex multicore architectures one of the most important challenges is to know the system behavior and the recognition of any variations from the normal system behavior has to be guaranteed. For those cases it is necessary to monitor several states of the system, configurations, timing, etc. To monitor such a complex system a lot of information from the inside of the system needs to be evaluated without affecting the rest of the MPSoC.

scholarly journals Field Experience of the Sequential Combustion System for the GT24/GT26 Gas Turbine Family

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Joos ◽  
Philipp Brunner ◽  
Marcel Stalder ◽  
Stefan Tschirren
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Combustion System ◽  
System A ◽  
Commercial Operation ◽  
Near Future

The first units of the Sequential Combustion System gas turbine family are in commercial operation. The first gas turbine GT24 (60Hz, 165MW-class) started the commercial operation, while the first GT26 (50Hz, 265MW-class) demonstrates its performance at the GT test facility. More engines are presently in the commissioning phase or will be in the near future. These turbines are designed to offer increased output at high GT efficiency. To acheive this, the sequential combustion system, a reheat process with two combustors, has been developed. Whereas the first combustor is based on the proven EV-combustor technology, extensive research and development efforts have been carried out in developing the lean premixed self-igniting second combustor (SEV). This paper is a follow-up of the ASME paper 96-GT-315, which described the basic research work concerning the lean premixing SEV-burners with self-ignition. The present paper reports the experience gained during commissioning of the first engines. The performance of the two combustors, as well as the measured emissions, are discussed and compared with the expected values and rig test results. Finally, the potential of the sequential combustion system to reach low NOx levels is demonstrated by unveiling the results of the extensive testing program during the commissioning phase.

scholarly journals E-Society – A Financial and Event Management System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indra Priyadharshini ◽  
Jasmine Gilda A ◽  
Sherin Glory J ◽  
Mukhil V
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Management System ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Event Management ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Web Based ◽  
System A ◽  
Data Error ◽  
House Society

E-society – a financial and event management system, a web based application which leverage waterfall development model for managing the financial operations typically done in a house society and also provides the facility to create, organize and prioritize events and raise funds for the same. At present these details were maintained in a spreadsheet, and it has its own issues when comes to calculations, human introduced data error, missing required precession etc. Due to the manual maintenance of financial records, getting a spending report is become too tedious and difficult to extract in a given amount of time.This system is exclusively used by a small group or an organization allows people to keep track of the transaction between members of the society, admin and the workers working for that organization or society. By using this we can reduce the manual calculations and human errors while computation of expenditure. The system allows the retrieving and updating facilities to authorized persons.To bring in the transparency in expenses of the society’s funds, the application allows every user to generate a report to know about the expenses and funds collected between a given date range.

A Mixed-Criticality Integration in Cyber-Physical Systems

2018 ◽  
pp. 169-194
Author(s):  
Haris Isakovic ◽  
Radu Grosu
Keyword(s):  
Physical System ◽  
System Of Systems ◽  
Industrial Systems ◽  
Safety Critical ◽  
Intelligence System ◽  
Modern Computer ◽  
System A ◽  
Single Room ◽  
System Requirements ◽  
Mixed Criticality

A Cyber-Physical System (CPS) describes a system or a system-of-systems closely and actively coupled with environment. It comprises the digital intelligence system, a co-dependent physical system (i.e., electrical, mechanical) and the system environment. Since the beginning of modern computer systems integration was ever present challenge, from the huge single room computers to the IoT. Today applications interleave and build larger systems with different system requirements and properties. Implementation of safety critical applications together with non-critical applications within the same platform is almost inevitable in modern industrial systems. This article provides a retrospective overview of the major integration challenges and the current problems in mixed-criticality environments. Finally, it provides an insight in a hardware solution which creates deterministic platform for mixed-criticality applications.

A Mixed-Criticality Integration in Cyber-Physical Systems

2017 ◽  
pp. 1153-1178
Author(s):  
Haris Isakovic ◽  
Radu Grosu
Keyword(s):  
Physical System ◽  
System Of Systems ◽  
Industrial Systems ◽  
Safety Critical ◽  
Intelligence System ◽  
Modern Computer ◽  
System A ◽  
Single Room ◽  
System Requirements ◽  
Mixed Criticality

A Cyber-Physical System (CPS) describes a system or a system-of-systems closely and actively coupled with environment. It comprises the digital intelligence system, a co-dependent physical system (i.e., electrical, mechanical) and the system environment. Since the beginning of modern computer systems integration was ever present challenge, from the huge single room computers to the IoT. Today applications interleave and build larger systems with different system requirements and properties. Implementation of safety critical applications together with non-critical applications within the same platform is almost inevitable in modern industrial systems. This article provides a retrospective overview of the major integration challenges and the current problems in mixed-criticality environments. Finally, it provides an insight in a hardware solution which creates deterministic platform for mixed-criticality applications.

scholarly journals Fuzzy Logic in HEART and CREAM Methods to Assess Human Error and Find an Optimum Method Using a Hierarchical Fuzzy System: A Case Study in a Steel Factory

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
REZIE BOROUN ◽  
YASER TAHMASBI BIRGANI ◽  
ZEINAB MOSAVIANASL ◽  
GHOLAM ABBAS SHIRALI
Keyword(s):  
Steel Industry ◽  
Fuzzy System ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Human Reliability Analysis ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
System A ◽  
Technical Advances ◽  
Hierarchical Fuzzy System

Numerous studies have been conducted to assess the role of human errors in accidents in different industries. Human reliability analysis (HRA) has drawn a great deal of attention among safety engineers and risk assessment analyzers. Despite all technical advances and the development of processes, damaging and catastrophic accidents still happen in many industries. Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) and Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM) methods were compared with the hierarchical fuzzy system in a steel industry to investigate the human error. This study was carried out in a rolling unit of the steel industry, which has four control rooms, three shifts, and a total of 46 technicians and operators. After observing the work process, reviewing the documents, and interviewing each of the operators, the worksheets of each research method were completed. CREAM and HEART methods were defined in the hierarchical fuzzy system and the necessary rules were analyzed. The findings of the study indicated that CREAM was more successful than HEART in showing a better capability to capture task interactions and dependencies as well as logical estimation of the HEP in the plant studied. Given the nature of the tasks in the studied plant and interactions and dependencies among tasks, it seems that CREAM is a better method in comparison with the HEART method to identify errors and calculate the HEP.  

Acoustic monitoring of the cluster test facility 20 MJ magnet system: a record of disturbance emission and training

Cryogenics ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.S. Kensley ◽  
K. Yoshida ◽  
H. Tsuji ◽  
S. Shimamoto
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Monitoring ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Magnet System ◽  
System A ◽  
And Training

Task Scheduler Based Design of Software Architecture for Distributed Timed Automata in Safety Critical Systems

2011 ◽  
Vol 403-408 ◽  
pp. 3430-3437
Author(s):  
Yogendra Namjoshi
Keyword(s):  
Software Architecture ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Timed Automata ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Critical System ◽  
Signaling Systems ◽  
Safety Critical ◽  
Safety Critical System ◽  
System A ◽  
Safety Critical Systems

The paper revisits the approach of distributed timed automata in order to improve and optimize the methodology used in order to increase the availability of a safety critical system and implements using embedded real time task scheduler. A double wheel counter or digital axle counter system, a typical safety critical system that is used in solid state based railway signaling systems, is considered for achieving higher availability under certain failures. The improvement in the software architecture is influenced by the theory of task scheduler of real time operating system.

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