Operating Systems for Safety - Critical Applications

Areas of computer applications are far wider than what people normally imagine. Besides the visible applications like word processing and the Internet access using your desktop computer, computer applications cover a vast spectrum of areas, from nuclear reactor and aircraft control systems, to vehicle antilock brake systems (ABS) and electronic toys like play stations. Some of these applications are safety-critical, that is, catastrophic consequences may occur if a computer in the control system becomes faulty. Design errors and operational faults are in general not avoidable. All we can do are to make the probability of system failures as low as possible, or make the system as dependable as possible.