Can STPA be used for a System-of-Systems?: Experiences from an Automated Quarry Site
2018 (English)In: 4th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, ISSE 2018 - Proceedings, 2018, article id 8544433Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Automation is becoming prevalent in more and more industrial domains due to the potential benefits in cost reduction as well as the new approaches/solutions they enable. When machines are automated and utilized in system-of-systems, a thorough analysis of potential critical scenarios is necessary to derive appropriate design solutions that are safe as well. Hazard analysis methods like PHA, FTA or FMEA help to identify and follow up potential risks for the machine operators or bystanders and are well-established in the development process for safety critical machinery. However, safety certified individual machines can no way guarantee safety in the context of system-of-systems since their integration and interactions could bring forth newer hazards. Hence it is paramount to understand the application scenarios of the system-of-systems and to apply a structured method to identify all potential hazards. In this paper, we 1) provide an overview of proposed hazard analysis methods for system-of systems, 2) describe a case from construction equipment domain, and 3) apply the well-known System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA)f to our case. Our experiences during the case study and the analysis of results clearly point out certain inadequacies of STPA in the context of system-of-systems and underlines the need for the development of improved techniques for safety analysis of system-of-systems.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. article id 8544433
Keywords [en]
Autonomous Machines, Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment, Safety, STPA, Systemof-Systems, Accident prevention, Automation, Construction equipment, Cost reduction, Hazards, Machinery, Risk analysis, System of systems, Systems engineering, Application scenario, Appropriate designs, Development process, Hazard analysis, Improved techniques, Potential benefits, Risk assessment
National Category
Natural Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-37340DOI: 10.1109/SysEng.2018.8544433Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85059989681ISBN: 9781538644461 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-37340DiVA, id: diva2:1281504
Conference
4th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, ISSE 2018, 1 October 2018 through 3 October 2018
2019-01-222019-01-222019-12-20Bibliographically approved