Project site: www.mastac.org.ua

Tempus project “MSc and PhD studies in Aerospace Critical Computing” is executed by the National Aerospace University, Kharkiv, Ukraine with the support of Newcastle University and City University of London, UK and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.

Plural nature of IT-technologies and computer (SW&HW-based) systems (CS):
1) factor of improving quality & convenience of everyday life level;
2) mean of increasing quality & reliability & safety of critical applications (software- and FPGA-based systems);
3) cause of new challenges and deficits of safety.

Known facts
1980s -1990s: 20% crashes of space systems were caused by CSs (SW faults - 85%);
1998-2005: 17-21% NPP equipment failures were caused by I&C systems;
2000-2008 (preliminary analysis): CS failures called forth approximately 50% (SW faults -16,6%, HW faults -33,3%) crashes or deferred starts of space systems

MASTAC-consortium

EU partners

1) University Newcastle upon Tyne, UK - coordinator

• School of Computer Science,
• Centre for Software Reliability,
• School of Electronic and Computer System Design,

2) City University, London, UK, Centre for Software Reliability
3) Abo Åkademi University, Finland, Department of Computer Science

Ukrainian partners

1) National Aerospace University “KhAI”, Kharkiv, Department of Computer Systems and Networks – national coordinator
2) Khmelnitskiy National University, Department of System Programming
3) Ministry of Education&Science, Department of International Connections
4) “Polysvit” Design Bureau, Kharkiv, Department of computing systems

Why MASTAC?

• The problem “aerospace (critical) systems – safety & dependability – computing & networking” and training of specialists for safety-critical computing and engineering.
• Experience of EU universities and research centers is very important for Ukraine which has a highly-developed rocket-space and aviation industry as well as NPPs.
• This background has led to the development of the EC-funded Tempus project “MSc and PhD studies in Aerospace Critical Computing”.

Weak points (not only for Ukraine)

• Most of the universities offer mainly theoretical training of specialists with little attention paid to practical studies
• The absence of system harmonization of MSc and PhD programmer with EU standards for critical computing engineering and the Bologna Declaration
• An insufficient level of support for professional mobility of academic staff and graduates in this areas
• The barest necessity of integration “education & engineering & research for safety-, mission- and business-critical computing”

Specific objectives of the project

• To update the MSc programme and courses for the specialty “Computer Systems and Networks” (4 courses) by August 2008
• To develop the PhD programme and courses for the specialty “Computer Systems and Networks” (2 courses) by August 2009
• To establish the Сritical Computing Training-Resource Centre at the target department of KhAI by August 2009
• To disseminate developed courses and recourses in Ukrainian universities (and other countries)

Additional objective:

To strengthen educational and scientific relationship between Ukrainian and EU universities taking into account previous successful experience and joint research projects

Master and Doctoral courses to be developed

MSc courses (MC1 - MC4):
MC1 - Software Quality Assessment and Expertise (KhAI)
MC2 - Dependable Systems, Networks and Services (KhAI)
MC3 - Fault-Tolerant Embedded PLD-systems (KhAI, KhNU)
MC4 - Multi-version Systems and Technologies for Critical Applications (KhAI).

PhD courses (PC1 – PC2):
PC1 - Modeling of Dependable Systems& Networks (KhAI, KhNU)
PC2 - Formal Methods of Critical Software Development (KhAI).

Training centre (TC) for critical computing (KhAI, KhNU)

Expert groups:
MC1, MC4 - City University, MC2, MC3 - Newcastle University,
PC1, PC2 – Åbo Akademi, Newcastle University
TC – City University, Newcastle University, Åbo Akademi
Internal expert group: “Polysvit” Design Bureau

Structure of courses (examples)

The module structure of the MSc course (MC1) “Software Quality Assessment and Expertise”:

MM1.1 - Requirements of International Standards to Aerospace Systems Software
MM1.2 - Models and Metrics of Software Quality
MM1.3 - Software Reliability Models
MM1.4 - Methods and Tools of Software Quality Assessment
MM1.5 - Techniques of Critical Software Verification and Expertise

The module structure of the PhD course (PC2) “Formal Methods of Critical Software Development”:

MP2.1 - Review of Formal Methods
MP2.2 - B-method of Supporting Critical Software Development
MP2.3 - SFME(C)A-technique