Stefan Kowalewski
Fehler in der Steuerungssoftware – eine wissenschaftliche Herausforderung Technische Systeme werden sicherer mit Informatik-Methoden
Control software in technical applications, called “embedded software”, is ubiquitous. It determines the functionality of virtually any system we get in touch with in our daily life, ranging for example from household appliances and cars to medical equipment and industrial automation. Obviously, errors in embedded software can lead to severe damage and injuries or even deaths of people. The article presents recent methods from computer science for detecting or avoiding such “bugs”. The main approach is based on so-called “formal methods”. This means that we use mathematics to describe the intended behavior of an embedded program as well as its possible behavior, and we check that the latter conforms to the former with the help of computer algorithms. Our particular interest lies in making such methods applicable to real-world problems by simplifications or over-estimations. We report on successful examples in industrial automation, partly from the Excellence Cluster “Internet of Production”. Further success stories refer to spin-off companies which provide technologies for improving industrial testing and for enhancing standard mobile operating systems with industrial robustness and real-time capabilities. 54 |
Noch vor wenigen Jahrzehnten kam man im Alltag nur dann mit Computerprogrammen in Berührung, wenn man sich vor einem Bild schirm befand und versuchte, über eine Tastatur den Rechner dazu zu bewegen, das zu tun, was man von ihm wollte. Diese Situation hat sich grundlegend geändert. Heute vergeht kaum eine Minute, in der kein softwaregesteuertes System unser Leben beeinflusst.
