Statistical Model Checking based Analysis of Fault Trees and Power Consumption to Enhance Autonomous Systems Reliability

In this paper, a fault tree analysis (FTA) method is proposed that can not only evaluate the failure risk of autonomous systems but also their power consumption over time. The suggested technique relies on FTA and statistical model checking (SMC). After evaluating the probability of system failure and the power consumption of system components, the optimal risk mitigation techniques can be determined considering the duration of the mission. To demonstrate the methodology, the causes of mission failure in a typical drone are examined. After identifying the critical sources of mission failure, a number of risk mitigation techniques based on component redundancy are evaluated to investigate their potential to lower the probability of system failure.