Course Details in 2021/22 Session

Module Title	Computers and Safety in Critical Systems
School	School of Engineering
Department	Civil Engineering
Module Code	04 26316
Module Lead	Dr Ibrahim Habli
Level	Masters Level
Credits	10
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	Students with a good degree in an engineering or related numerate discipline or holding an equivalent professional engineering position
Exclusions
Description	This course is primarily intended to give an introduction to railway engineers on the issues that must be considered when computers are used in safety-critical or safety-related applications. The course starts with a rapid overview of the context in which computers are used and the contribution of computer based systems to accidents. The emphasis throughout this introduction is on highlighting areas that are of potential concern to safety engineers. This is followed by a more in-depth examination of the software development process, considering especially aspects of requirements specification, design and analysis that are critical to the deployment of computers in safety-critical applications. The course also considers the software safety case and the structuring and collection of evidence for the software safety case. This module is run by the HISE group at the University of York.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Explain the issues presented by the use of software in safety-critical systems; Evaluate software development lifecycle models for safety; Discuss the relationship between system and software requirements; Differentiate between “bottom-up” and “top-down” views of software assurance; Discuss the issues in communicating requirements from one discipline to another; Select and participate in the application of appropriate software safety analysis techniques; Describe the role and principles of software architecture in the railway system design process; Identify the decisions relevant for safety in a software development process; Compare the approaches taken by software standards; Assess the appropriateness of software verification and analysis in a system safety argument; Describe the issues and potential approaches to incorporating software COTS into a safety-critical system; Discuss the state of the art and future directions in software safety
Assessment	26316-03 : End of Year Exam : Exam (Centrally Timetabled) - Mixed (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	University of York Assessment Activity 60 minutes of Class Test 10% 55 hours of Open Assessments 55% 0.5 hours of a 2.5 hours Written Exam (1-2 questions) to cover 5 Modules 20% Clinic Exams on System Life Cycle 15%
Other	None
Reading List