Argument Algebra: A Formalization of Assurance Case Development

Abstract

Assurance case has been applied to various safety software domains. Many argument patterns approaches were proposed for reusing assurance cases. One of the issues of argument pattern based assurance case development is the application orders of patterns. In this paper, the argument algebra is proposed to define argument expressions for assurance cases. The argument expressions are used to compare different assurance cases. This paper shows the equivalence problem of assurance cases can be solved by using the proposed argument algebra. The freeness of argument pattern application is also shown for assuring the dependability of a sensor device management system. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.