Dependability assessment of a deicing system through the RAMSAS method

The dependability analysis is crucial for a wide range of systems. It becomes even more difficult to assess when dealing with cyber-physical systems (CPSs), being resulting as an integration of physical and cyber parts, strongly interacting to provide a service or a function. In this context, the dependability analysis of a Deicing System (DS), which aims at preventing or decreasing the ice accretion on safety critical components of the aircraft, is experimented by exploiting the RAMSAS method, i.e. a novel model-based method to support the dependability analysis of systems. It allows the evaluation of dysfunctional behaviors of systems, through some available modeling practices combined with simulation techniques. Specifically, this paper aims at virtually assessing the design process of the DS by flexibly evaluating its performances, in terms dependability indices, through the exploitation of RAMSAS. Furthermore, it supports the engineers to compare different design choices as well as to guide them for selecting and integrating properly system components before its actual realization.