Dependability Analysis of a System Using State-Space Modeling Techniques: A Systematic Review

There has been considerable development in the domain of dependability engineering and analysis in recent decades. The quality guidelines related to dependability attributes such as safety, reliability, maintainability, and availability have evolved into recommending progressively stricter prerequisites and requirements related to the quality of products and services. Owing to this development, the aspects, processes, and practices that were either simply approximated or disregarded until now must be considered in quantitative evaluation to offer satisfactory estimates related to dependability. With explicit regard to dependability, it implies that obstructions and prerequisite conditions cannot be ignored. In this manner, so as to help such a pattern, explicit procedures and apparatuses are required to satisfactorily manage dynamic viewpoints in dependability assessment. State-space modeling techniques are quite productive when attempts are made to illustrate the dynamic behavior of a system. They provide support for critical analysis to deliver being instrumental in a direct mapping with any mathematical modeling tool. The objective of this article is to offer a systematic review of various modeling formalisms with insights into state-space modeling techniques for dependability analysis. It also provides a comparison among the various modeling formalisms, and therefore, can be used as a reference for practitioners, developers, and researchers in state-space dependability modeling and evaluation.