Why e-tickets must get smarter

From a public transport customer's point of view, it would be nice to have only one smart card in your wallet which enables travel everywhere in a familiar way. For example: the Brussels (Mobib) card could be compatible with those of Amsterdam (OV-Chipcaart), London (Oyster), Paris (Navigo) and Cologne (eTicket), and also recognized on Thalys (high-speed operator served the Netherlands, Brussels and Paris), Eurostar, TGV (high-speed trains in France) and ICE (high-speed trains in Germany) services. Instead of nine smart cards you would need only one. The intelligence should be enough to understand at least a part of the other schemes so that you can buy a valid ticket for your journey using a single smart card.

Of course, the medium does not have to be a smart card, it could easily be a chip/antenna in your mobile phone or anywhere else. The way the media communicate with the underlying system can vary as long as both ends understand each other.

It is almost as important that you are informed about your travel options, that you know how to purchase the right ticket, and that you pay for correct amount. Again, it would be nice if you could do this in the way you are used to doing in your own city or country.

It means that all these aspects of travel should be seamless:

- Information before, during and after the trip

- Physical connections and transfers offered by different operators

- One (virtual) ticket for the entire journey, and

- Your money should end up with the different parties who provided the services you enjoyed.

The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) issued a position paper on e-ticketing called Everybody local everywhere. In many regions and nations, major investment is being made in electronic ticketing projects. The position paper argues that - as in other industries - technical interoperability and organizational cooperation must be established to make effective use of developments and serve the customer better. The vision "everybody local everywhere" expresses the idea that public transport customers should feel welcome and comfortable anywhere they travel. They should receive a coherent service with simplified interchanges, comprehensive information and hassle-free ticketing. The vision is one of seamless travel and seamless fares. UITP strongly recommends that the different electronic ticketing solutions that exist today converge, and migrate to only one or possibly two systems for all of Europe. Of course, this will not happen overnight and requires considerable effort, and a pan-European project aims to examine just how this might happen.

Interoperable. The two-year European-funded interoperable fare-management (IFM) project is to provide travelers with common styles of contactless media throughout Europe which can be used for multiple transport products in different geographic areas, compared with today`s situation where existing smart cards are mostly restricted to specific cities or regions.

The IFM project aims to find a way forward in the development of standards for the interoperability of fare management (electronic ticketing) and will produce a handbook for the implementation of IFM in Europe. From 2010, the findings will be tested in real life and, in a third phase, the measures could become binding in all of Europe.

The project consists of establishing best practice and structure for the following:

- Trust

- Privacy

- Applications and interoperable media

- The IFM organization

- Supporting information and communications technology systems, and

- Establishing a UITP IFM forum for consensus and dissemination.

Trust. This first working package of the IFM Project, lead by the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organization (ITSO), will determine the minimum common features - the features that are required from an interoperable point of view - of an European trust model and the requirements for a European secure application module (EU-SAM).

A trust model is a tool that helps one visualize and understand the degree of confidence that is intentionally or unintentionally granted to individuals and systems, based on the associated risks inherent with granting this confidence. The more completely the trust model is defined, the greater awareness one will gain of the threats and vulnerabilities and especially for risks based on those threats and vulnerabilities. The trust model should describe how trusted transactions can be made between different fare areas when an unknown customer uses an unknown smart card.

One factor that makes this work package very complicated is that IFM systems should be designed as open systems. The associated trust model is far more complex than the alternative "deny model" which is based on the initial refusal of access. How can you be sure that you are guarding all the doors? Who can guarantee the authentication processes, confidentiality, and integrity of data transferred? Who can the ability to hold transacting parties accountable? Should this be done centrally, and if so, by whom? There are many questions like this that need to be addressed.

Privacy. This second work package, lead by the University de Paris X-Nanterre, will review the need for privacy of personal data. It will ensure the adequate consideration of the fundamental right of privacy.

Recent years have seen an increasing attention on privacy-aware technologies and mechanisms for the negotiation of private information between customers and enterprises. Personal identities and profiles are becoming more important as they enable interactions and transactions in inter-enterprise environments, on the web, in e-commerce sites and in mobile environments. The resultant ease of gathering and transmitting such information gives rise to a number of threats to people's privacy. These threats need to be analyzed and addressed in a way that focuses on people and the protection of their privacy.

Interoperability requires the sharing of sensitive data with strangers. Locally, the privacy requirements on sharing data can be decisive in what we can do with the potentially generated data.

Today applications are called projects, products are tickets, and media are like the old smart cards, but now the chip and antenna can be in mobile telephones, a PDA or other gadget. The third work package is about security aspects, life-cycles and application management. It is about migration of older systems to be compatible with other systems in the future.

Organization and technology. The organizational aspect will define common organizational models and investigate how existing national organizations and key regional or city implementations can one day be interoperable. Basically, each organization behind every region has to be able to cope with the responsibilities required by the other working packages and the technical interoperability of the media and back-offices. The aim is to identify the common requirements for transport contactless media, identify the benefits of multi-application media to enlarge interoperability, define common requirements on interoperable contactless media and multi-application management for public transport and issue recommendations for migration.

Including the study, UITP is integrated in the European funded IFM Project. It serves as a platform to give valuable input to the project and will help to identify best practices and new ways of cooperation.

Exercise 1. Study the following words and word-expressions:

1. smart card - смарт-картка (платіжна картка, smart – спритний, кмітливий

2. in a familiar way - просто, звичайним засобом

3. to be compatible with- бути конкурентно-спроможним

4. intelligence - інформація, інтелект

5. valid ticket - дійсний квиток

6. to end up - надходити

7. coherent - послідовний, ясний

8. comprehensive -всебічний, вичерпний

9. interchange - зміна, чергування

10.hassle-free - безперебійний, надійний

11.converge - зводити в одну точку

12.to be restricted to - бути обмеженим в певних рамках

13.implementation - виконання

14.binding - обов`язковий

15.dissemination - розповсюдження

16.intentionally - навмисний

17.gain of threats - поєднання загроз

18.vulnerability - уразливість

19.authentication process - процес підтвердження

20.profile - короткий біографічний нарис

21.sensitive data - нестійкі дані

22.gadget - технічна новинка

23.to cope with - задовольняти

24.to enlarge - розширювати, збільшувати

25.valuable input - цінний вклад

Exercise 2. Answer the following questions:

1. What are principal advantages of using a single smart card?

2. Can you tell which aspects of travel should be seamless?

3. Why was a position paper issued?

4. How can the European-funded interoperable fare-management project (IFM) be used for?

5. Which aims does IFM have?

6. What general concepts does IFM consist of?

7. Which common features does IFM determine?

8. What does a trust model of IFM mean?

9. Why are personal identities and profilers becoming more important recent years?

Exercise 3. Give the Ukrainian equivalents to the English word-expressions:

Public transport customer's point of view, electronic ticketing project, European-funded interoperable fare-management project, contactless media, multiple transport products, Integrated Transport Smartcard Organization, minimum common features, multi-application media.

Exercise 4. Find couples of synonyms among the following words:

Valuable, to cope with, to authenticate, binding, implementation,, hassle, to end up, valid, intelligence, to define, key, to migrate, option, expensive, to safety, to identify, obligatory, performance, difficulty, to arrive, true, information, to determine, main, to move, choice.

Exercise 5. Transform the following sentences according to the model:

Model: You can buy a valid ticket.

A valid ticket can be bought by you.

1. A traveler can use a single smart card. 2. The specialists called a position paper on e-ticketing "Everybody local everywhere". 3. Railways must establish technical interoperability and organizational cooperation. 4. Public transport customers should receive a coherent service. 5. The IFM project provides travelers with common styles of contactless media. 6. The IFM project will produce a handbook. 7. The first working package of the IFM will determine the minimum common features. 8. The specialists designed the IFM systems as open ones.

Exercise 6. Work in pairs. Make up dialogues on the following topics:

a) Discuss the problems, over the solution of which the public transport carriers are working.

b) You are a representative of the Publishing House "The International Railway Journal" and you are interviewing Business Development Manager, Video Over IP, Bosch, Netherlands, Mr David Lenot about aims of European-funded interoperable fare-management (IFM) project. Discuss the perspectives of this project.

Exercise 7. Crossword. Find the hidden words. Words can be arranged in any direction.

1. Complex of functions (m…) 7. Problem (h…)

2. Device for receiving of radio waves (a)8. Without touching (c…)

3. Journey (t…) 9. Link (c…)

4. Information (i…) 10. Upgraded ticket (s…)

5. Any traveler must have it (t…) 11. Mode of public transport (t…)

6. Main (k…) 12. Vehicle (c…)

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TEXT 8

ON THE RIGHT WAVELENGTH

As the world economic situation continues to seemingly decline on a daily basis, and issues surrounding climate change and future scarcity of natural resources continue to hover near the top of the media agenda, it would seem fairly obvious to transport professionals that consumers should decide to switch to public transport for economic and/or environmental reasons.

Frequently, there is some weakness due to a lack of confidence in timetables and schedules and to an overall lack of reliable information. To address these information issues, transport authorities and governments are placing, increasing reliance on real-time passenger information (RTPI) systems. The prime purpose is, naturally, to provide information which the travelling public can rely on, but there are also three other key drivers behind the adoption of such systems:

- Regulatory bodies often require detailed information on timetable adherence, and an RTPI system can provide a lot of useful data

- Health and safety regulations are omnipresent in most industries these days, and knowing the precise location of a public transport vehicle at any given moment in time can be very useful, both with regard to incidents involving the vehicle itself, and also in relation to other events which may necessitate knowledge of the vehicle's precise location

- Internet can be used so widespread that consumers in developed countries have become used to having information on all sorts of activities no more than three mouse clicks away. Passenger transport needs to meet customer expectations that up-to-the-minute data will be readily available.

Much attention is rightly focused on the media used - web, information displays, mobile telephony and so on - for actually delivering the information.

Processing and interpreting the data is the role of companies, most of whom are reasonably well-known specializing in RTPI solutions, but actually transmitting the data between vehicle, control center and information display is an element that is often forgotten.

Tait Radio Communications has been supplying professional mobile radio solutions for 40 years and is well-versed in the various requirements of the different modes of public transport. For most of that time, voice communication has been the focus, with improvements in voice quality, equipment functionality and operational range having been achieved gradually. The advent of RTPI systems over recent years has brought about the need for data to be transmitted. A number of potential data transmission solutions were developed, using a range of technologies, but it soon became clear that there were several challenges to overcome:

- The number of devices in cabs is proliferating, causing maintenance, space and operational issues.

- Achieving total reliability is difficult, particularly if a system is susceptible to external (and therefore uncontrollable) events

- The need for voice communications had not disappeared, but its importance is frequently disregarded,

- Cost is at the center of most facets of life - and the public transport industry can ill-afford expensive but incomplete or unreliable solutions.

Tait decided to take up the challenge of developing a solution which offered reliable data transmission, reliable voice communications within the same system, excellent data rates, and independence from third-party influences.

The result, after an extensive customer consultation exercise and some innovation research and development at Tait`s headquarters in New Zealand, is the TaitNet Data System (TNDS). This is based on Tait`s existing trunked (also known as MPT 1327) radio technology, with which many public transport operators around the world are familiar.

TNDS offers public transport and RTPI operators, systems integrators and RTPI suppliers' voice and data transmission within the same system, a capability of polling up to 900 vehicles per minute per data channel, and a system which is independent of third-party influences.

By using a trucked radio solution, TNDS allows operators to fit their data transmission into their existing frequency allocation.

As demands and requirements of public transport communications systems grow, operators and their systems integrators need to pay even greater attention to their technology choices. In some business sectors, such as the utilities, there has been a marked move back towards PMR (professional mobile radio)-based solutions, because of the independence and control that they offer, particularly in civil emergency situations, when public networks can become overloaded or be switched off. In some countries, public transport operators have been lured towards adopting the "latest" digital radio technology, without truly considering the cost and the data and frequency limitations. Selecting the tool that is best for the job may be a wiser move than adopting the most theoretically advanced or easier solution. TNDS is an innovative solution that uses tried and tested technology to meet new communications challenges in public transport.

 

 

Exercise 1. Study the following words and word-combinations.

1. decline - занепад

2. seemingly - очевидно

3. a scarcity - дефіцит, недостатня кількість

4. agenda - порядок денний

5. prime purpose - головна мета

6. timetable adherence - суворе додержання розкладу

7. to be omnipresent - бути повсюдним, всеоб`ємлючим

8. precise location - точне місцезнаходження

9. to be available - бути доступним

10.to be focused on - концентрувати увагу на …

11.up-to-the-minute data - новітні дані

12.to deliver - доставляти

13.to interpret data - пояснювати дані

14.to advent - прихід, поява

15.a challenge - виклик, вимога

16.to overcome - подолати, перемогти

17.to proliferate - швидко збільшуватися, поширюватися

18.total reliability - повна надійність

19.uncontrollable events - неконтрольовані випадки

20.to be disregarded - бути ігнорованим

21.a facet -аспект, грань

22.to take up - обговорювати, приймати (пропозицію тощо)

23.trunk - головний, магістральний

24.integrator - інтегратор, математичний компонент з 2-ма змінними

25.supplier - пoстачальник

26.a capability of polling -можливість автоматичного з`єднання

27.data transmission - передача даних

28.frequency allocation -розподіл частот

29.utilities - комунальні підприємства

30.overloaded -перевантажений

31.to switch off - вимикати струм, роз`єднувати

32.to be lured - бути привабливим

Exercise 2. Give Ukrainian equivalents to the English word-combinations from the text:

Daily basis, climate changes, economic and/or environmental reasons, transport authorities, real-time passenger information systems, travelling public, detailed information, health and safety regulations, all sorts of activity, professional mobile radio solution, potential data transmission solution, voice communication, a third-party influence, extensive customer consultation exercise, public transport communication systems.

Exercise 3. Make up 10 questions to the text and answer them.

Exercise 4. Read and translate the following confirmations. Think whether they are true or not. If not give the right version.

1. Climate changes and future scarcity of natural resources stop to hover near the top of the media agenda.

2. Frequently, there is some weakness due to a lack of confidence in timetables and schedules.

3. RTPI system can't provide a lot of useful data.

4. Tait Radio Communications has been supplying amateur mobile radio solutions.

5. TNDS is based on the Tait`s existing trucked radio technology.

6. TNDS prevents operators to fit their data transmission into their existing frequency allocation.

7. As demands of public transport communications systems grow, operators and their systems integrators need to pay more attention to their technology choices.

Exercise 5. Transform the following sentences according to the model:

Model: The experts understand well features of trunked analogue radio.

Features oftrunked analogue radio are well understood by the experts.

1. The passengers need to make the journey with confidence and security. 2. The communication infrastructure meets the demands of a modern, integrated public transport operation. 3. The public transport operation often outstrips the capacity and ability of the existing infrastructure. 4. A number of factors drive the adoption of GPS technology and passenger information systems. 5. Operators need to relay timetable information to onboard and platform information displays. 6. Upgraded information systems must provide passengers with a level of information which was unthinkable just a few years ago. 7. Modern demands have changed the way we pay for public transport. 8. Drivers still need to contact the control room. 9. Tait focused on retaining the existing trusted signaling standards. 10. Tait has developed a hybrid of analogue radio technology.

Exercise 6. Work in pairs

a) Discuss with your partner the necessity of such technologies as real-time passenger information systems (RTPI).

b) You are a journalist of the "Times". Your task is to analyze of prospective of Tait Radio Communications.

c) Prove the necessity of developing public transport communications systems.

Exercise 7. Write an annotation to the text.

 

TEXT 9

 

CHANGING CHANNELS

Ensuring passengers have the information they need to make their journey with confidence and security is an essential element of good customer service in rail industry. However, the communications infrastructure required to meet the demands of a modern, integrated public transport operation is highly complex and often outstrips the capacity and ability of the existing infrastructure.

There are a number of factors driving the adoption of GPS technology and passenger information systems across Europe, of which legislation, regulatory controls, consumer expectations, and government initiatives are among the most significant drivers. These factors mean that operators need to relay timetable information to onboard and platform information displays, monitor their own performance against timetables and provide passengers with a level of information which was unthinkable just a few years ago.

Demand for real-time passenger information (RTPI) is driven from three angles. From a government perspective, the need to develop and deliver integrated transport systems is high on the agenda. This can be implemented through careful coordination of infrastructure and the accurate delivery of information to passengers. Both of these facets require the efficient and timely delivery of data, although passenger information is clearly crucial in terms of gaining and maintaining consumer trust and confidence. From an operator`s viewpoint, up-to-date travel information is essential for increasing passenger confidence. Consumer demand for RTPI comes as from the desire for travel information as it does from the overall trend within society for information to be readily available, accessible and, primarily, accurate. Getting this data to all the relevant devices, such as platform indicators, is a major challenge and requires a rapid and robust solution.

As the way we pay for public transport has changed, access to the ticketing system to monitor activity and travel pass updates and revisions is another feature that needs to be handled by the onboard radio, provided the radio infrastructure has the right data handling capacity and the radio has the physical interfaces to allow easy connectivity.

Lastly, it must handle the aspect of communications systems which if often overlooked in this age of intelligent systems and data transmission - verbal communication. Drivers still need to contact the control room to alert them to issues or communicate on other matters, and a communication system needs to facilitate this requirement in a way which does not preclude the efficient functioning of all the other demands placed upon it.

To allow operators to approach this issue in a more coordinated way, Tait decided to re-think the way a bus-radio system is defined, and this can be applied to rail. Tait focused on retaining the existing and trusted MPT1327 and MPT1343 signalling standards so that networks running now remain at the heart of future services and, in association with a range of prominent system developers, looked at the way systems are developed.

Taitnet. The result is Taitnet Data System (TNDS), a hybrid of analogue radio technology and high performance DPS-based core technology. This system is based on Tait`s existing trucking infrastructure because it is considered to be the best way of keeping the cost low for existing and new users.

Trunked analogue radio is well understood and much of the hardware can be made very economically using components which have stood the test of time. TNDS also differs from other offerings on the market as its voice and data are fully integrated and to offers much faster polling rates. Regular polling of data channels is fully automatic and TNDS has been designed to ensure compatibility with existing RTPI systems. The radio interface is software-defined and can be configured by Tait or the integrator. Furthermore, existing analogue radio systems can be easily upgraded to handle dedicated TDMA data channels. These are fast enough to support the most advanced realtime AVL and passenger information services.

TNDS alleviates many of the operational burdens on radio systems which, despite the amount of data they need to carry, must also accommodate voice applications.

Exercise1. Study the following words and word-expressions:

1. to outstrip - перевершувати, обганяти

2. to relay timetable information - передавати інформацію по розкладу

3. to be implemented through - бути виконаним, здійсненим

4. accurate delivery - точна доставка

5. in terms of - стосовно

6. to be accessible - бути доступним

7. a relevant device - придатний прилад

8. a robust solution - правильне рішення

9. interface - взаємодія, місце з`єднання,

radio interface – взаємодія мобільної станції з обладнанням радіомережі

10. easy connectivity - просте підключення

11. intelligent system - розумна система

12. verbal communication - голосовий зв`язок

13. control room - центр керування

14. to preclude - перешкоджати, запобігати

15. a prominent system developer - розробник визначної системи

16. trunking infrastructure - головна інфраструктура

17. polling rates - норма опитування

18. to ensure compatibility - забезпечити конкурентно спроможність

19. software - програмне забезпечення

20. hardware - апаратне забезпечення

21. to be upgraded - бути вдосконаленим, покращеним

22. to alleviate - полегшувати

23. operational burden - експлуатаційні навантаження, витрати

24.amount of data - кількість даних

Exercise 2. Answer the questions according to the text:

1. What is the essential element of good customer service in rail industry?

2. Which factors driving the adoption of the GPS technology and passenger information systems across Europe are there?

3. What do these factors mean?

4. Which three angles are the demands for real-time passenger information (RTRI)?

5. Which objectives does Tait focus on?

6. What can you tell about Taitnet Data System (TNDS)?

Exercise 3. Give Ukrainian equivalent to the following English word-combinations:

Good customer service, essential element, integrated public transport operation, consumer expectation, governmental initiatives, real-time passenger information, integrated transport systems, timely delivery of data, maintaining consumer trust and confidence, from an operator's viewpoint, up-to-date travel information, age of intelligent systems, hybrid of analogue radio technology.

Exercise 4. Match up the couples of synonyms:

Accurate, to be concentrated, transmission, protection, accessible, schedule, intelligent, exact, to upgrade, smart, to be focused, in connection with, essential, transference, timetable, security, to improve, obtainable, important, protection.

Exercise 5. Read and translate the following confirmations. Think whether they are true or false (read the text attentively). If not give the right variant.

1. Ensuring passengers have the information they need to make their journey with confidence and security is not an essential element of good customer service in rail industry.

2. The communications infrastructure is required to meet the demands of a modern, integrated public transport operation.

3. There are a number of factors driving the adoption of GPS technology and passenger information systems across Europe.

4. The way we pay for public transport hasn't changed yet.

5. Drivers of locomotives still need to contact the control room.

6. The hybrid of analogue radio technology is based on Tait`s existing trucking infrastructure.

7. Trunked analogue radio isn't well understood yet.

8. TNDS must also accommodate voice applications.

Exercise 6. Transform the sentences according to the model:

Model: They sent me to University, they wantedme to study law.

They sent me to University to study law.

1. It was obvious to transport professionals; they switched to public transport for economic and environmental reasons. 2. Transport authorities are placing real-time passenger information (RTDS) systems; they want to increase reliance on them. 3. Regulatory bodies require detailed information on timetable architecture; they provide a lot of useful data. 4. Internet can be used widespread in developed countries; they have information on all sorts of activities. 5. Much attention are focused on the web, information displays, and mobile telephony and so on, they actually receive the information. 6. Transmitting the data between vehicle, control center and information display is a major element it is often forgotten.

Exercise 7. Write the annotation of the text.

 

 

TEXT10

MODEL SOLUTION

Until now, the majority of software engineers have written their embedded applications manually, but in a world of increasingly complex systems, this approach is not considered to be ideal by many experts.

Recently, model-based development methodologies have emerged and started to change the processes in the aerospace, automotive and transport industries. In general, model-based tools allow designers to describe the behavior of their system, but do not typically lower the burden of testing once the code has been written. Correcting the bugs when the code is already written is the cause for very long change cycles in process-driven projects, and in the worst case, the reason for unmanageable reliability issues.

Like the aerospace and automotive industries, the railway industry is facing a challenge imposed by reliability, availability, maintainability and safety objectives (RAMS), with respect to the development of electronic and software systems.

Better safety. In railway applications, there is a mandatory requirement to fulfill the objectives of transport-specific safety standards. In Europe, the relevant standard is Cenelec EN 50128, which can be seen as a domain-specific tailoring of the more generic international standard IES 61508. The two standards share fundamental principles, including classification of systems according to four distinct safety integrity levels (SIL1-SIL4).

EN 50128 mandates the demonstration of specific activities in order to prove compliance with RAMS objectives, which imposes strict and extremely costly requirements on the software development process.

Practice and standards for software safety describe in detail how to achieve safety objectives for a given safety integrity level (SIL). The SIL or a given system is derived from a safety analysis and is intended to prove the absence of systematic errors in the software development process, giving sufficient confidence that the software application will provide the intended functionality and protection from hardware problems of safety hazards.

To achieve this level of confidence, the developer needs to demonstrate full traceability from the system requirements through software architecture and software design down to the embedded code. All requirements need to be tested on architecture, design, module and integration level: this test, verification and validation effort constitutes about half of total software development cost.

In the past, software has been seen as a piece of art. Each software system was created by a team of coders, and only understood by them. Costs were high, and the real functionality of software from those times is still a secret of the developers, and this can cause problems.

Nowadays we are in the era of software manufacture. Artisans are building beautiful, yet unique systems that can be scaled to impressive complexity, but become in a safety-driven process such as EN 50128. With Esterel`s Scade software suite, the vision of a safety-driven "certified software factory" (CSF) has become reality.

As with every real factory, it consists of different modules, assembly lines and robots that automate complex but repetitive tasks. There are modules to help the transfer of written requirements specifications of semi-formal specification models into the formal Scade executable specification, to provide tracking, tracing and coverage analysis of those requirements, and assembly lines to help the composition of complex systems from prefabricated and pre-certified functional software modules.

 

Finally, there is a smart robot called KCG, which is a certified automatic C code generator that transforms the executable specification into a piece of software readily integrated with the safe hardware/software platform as specified by the developer.

Combined testing process. The Scade design and verification methodology has been integrated into the combined testing process. This allows for complete verification and validation of the entire development and its documentation.

The Scade model test coverage (MTC) module enables a systematic approach to access the coverage achieved with a given set of test vectors at model level. The result of such an assessment is a statement of the extent to which the structure of the model has been covered by the tests, and if the specification model has been completely tested with respect to the requirements. When using MTC, it can be assumed that all requirements have been covered by the model and that the model contains neither deactivated nor dead specifications.

The user gets a detailed report concerning the coverage achieved and can analyze the test session. The MTC reporter is qualified as a verification tool according to DO178-B (qualification in progress). Using this MTC approach, he user achieves a full verification of the Scade model versus the higher-level requirements.

In recent years, point tools for formal verification have emerged. Most of them extract information from a model and translate it into their own notation, or even do an interpretation of the generated code. The Scade Design Verifier relies on the mathematically unambiguous Scade model to formally check user-defined properties. This can be used to automatically verify functional consistency of the software requirements with the higher level safety relevant functional requirements.

Static checks on the formal model enable the "correct by construction" approach, because typing consistency, software specification completeness, modeling rules and guidelines, and numerical robustness (divide-by-zero, overflow errors etc) can all be checked automatically and completely by the tool. If the tool detects for example a potential divide-by-zero hazard, it will notify the user of this fact and automatically provide him with a set of input vectors to reproduce the problem with the Scade simulator.

The Scade code generator automatically generates the complete C code implementing the software architecture and design defined in Scade for both data flows and state machines. It is much more than just a generation of code skeletons: the complete dynamic behavior is implemented.

It is important to understand that the Scade code generator has been developed with IEC 61508 and EN 50128 objectives. Certification includes an assessment of the development process, an analysis of the design philosophy and an assessment of the verification done:

- code is portable (compiler, target and operating system (OS) independent)

- code is structured by function or by blocks

- code is readable and traceable to the model through the use of names and annotations

- memory allocation is always static

- there is no pointer arithmetic

- there is no recursion, no loop

- execution time is bounded.

Only a formal software specification model as input for a qualified/certified code generator enables model-based software design in full and brings the benefits of a seamless design flow from requirements to code.

The generated code is fully compliant to software architectures based on abstraction layers such as Arinc 653 for aerospace and the safe SIL4 platforms used by the big rail transport OEMs such as Siemens, Thales and Alstom. The code generator provides a cyclic function; the OS-specific glue code is also being automatically built. This approach facilitates optimum portability because only the glue code changes from platform to platform. OS-specific made files and configuration files can also be automatically generated.

The code generation is completely formalized so that the code architecture, structure and patterns are well-defined and directly related to the input model. Based on the formal language definition of the Scade language, the possible combination of language constructs in the generated C code is therefore completely defined and described.

That way, it is possible to define a Scade sample model covering all possible combinations of Scade constructs and to be completely sure that the generated C code will also reflect all possible constructs.

Based on this approach, a compiler verification kit has been designed, which provides the user with the Scade sample, C sample, test cases and reference test results. Run on the target, the test cases will ensure 100% modified condition/decision coverage of the executable and can therefore give high confidence in the compiler/linker/execution process in case of a positive pass.

The combined testing process enables an integrated design and verification approach, from high level requirements to execution of the code on the target and is the perfect complement to the upcoming safe partitioned platforms.

Exercise 1. Study the following words and words-expressions:

1. approach -підхід, наближення

2. to emerge -виявлятися, з`ясовуватися

3. bug -технічний дефект

4. unmanageable -некерований, важкий для контролю

5. mandatory requirement -обов’язкова вимога

6. relevant -доречний, той, що стосується справи

7. domain - галузь

8. distinct -різний

9. to impose -накладати, оподатковувати

10.compliance -згода

11.to derive from -походити, здобувати

12.hazard - небезпека, ризик

13.verification - підтвердження, перевірка

14.validation -затвердження, легалізація

15.complexity - складність

16.smart robot -розумний робот

17.unambiguous -ясний, чіткий

18.consistency - послідовність, сумісність

19.completeness - завершеність, повнота

20.guideline - керівний принцип, офіційний норматив

21.robustness - ясність, твердість

22.compiler - компілятор, програма, яка упорядковує та компонує програмний код

23.pointer - покажчик

24.recursion -рекурсія, метод визначення класу об`єкту

25.loop - петля

26.input - вхідні дані, введення

27.seamless - без шва, суцільний

28.compliant - поступливий, податливий

 

 

Exercise 2. Translate the following word-expressions into Ukrainian:

World of increasingly complex systems, model-based development methodologies, transport-specific safety standards, distinct safety integrity levels, certified software factory, semi-formal specification models, prefabricated and pre-certified functional software modules, certified automatic C code generator, combined testing process, higher level safety relevant functional requirements, software specification completeness.

Exercise 3. Find couples of synonyms:

Bug, domain, right, mandatory, demand, distinct, hazard, scheme, aim, to divide, unambiguous, obligatory, different, fault, clear, branch, danger, correct, requirement, pattern, target, to partition.

Exercise 4. Answer the questions according to the text:

1. Which benefits of model-based tools for software engineers are there?

2. Which challenges is the railway industry facing?

3. Which relevant standard of transport-specific safety is there in Europe?

4. Which objectives are practice and standards achieved for software?

5. What is SIL (safety integrity level) intended to?

6. What main disadvantages of software system in the past were there?

7. Which principal features of modern software systems can you tell about?

8. What does MTC (model test coverage) mean?

9. Which challenges did Tait decide to take up?

 

 

Exercise 5. Read and translate the following sentences paying your attention to the functions of the verb "to have and to be".

1. The majority of software engineers have written their embedded applications manually. 2. Model-based development methodologies have started to change the processes in transport industries. 3. The railway industry is facing a challenge imposed by reliability, availability and safety objectives. 4. Two standards of safety have to share fundamental principles. 5. RAMS objectives are to impose strict and extremely costly requirements. 6. Practice and standards for software safety have to describe in detail how to achieve safety objectives. 7. The software application will be to provide the intended functionality and protection from hardware problems of safety hazards. 8. A software system was created by a team of coders. 9. Artisans are building beautiful, unique systems.

Exercise 6. Read and translate the following confirmations. Think whether they are true or false (read the text attentively). If not give the right variant.

1. Until now, the majority of software engineers have written their embedded applications manually.

2. Recently, model-based development methodologies haven't started to change the processes in transport industries.

3. In general, model-based tools don't allow designers to describe the behavior of their system.

4. Correcting the bugs when the code is already written is the cause for change cycles in process-driven projects.

5. In railway applications there is no mandatory requirement to fulfill the objectives of transport-specific safety standards.

6. In the USA, the relevant standards are CENELEC EN 50128.

7. Practice and standards for software safety describe in detail how to achieve safety objectives.

8. There are modules to help the transfer of written requirements specifications of semi-formal specification model into the formal Scade executable specification.

9. The Scade design and verification methodology hasn't been integrated into combined testing process.

Exercise 7. Work in pairs.

a). Discuss with your partner the new challenges facing the railway industry.

b). You are a journalist from "International Railway Journal". Make up a short review about CENELEC safety standards in Europe.

Exercise 8. Write the annotation of the text.

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