Characterizing Sets of Systems: Across-Systems Properties and their Representation

The term property conveys multiple meanings in different domains. However, in computting systems domain [18], they are used to describe characteristics that the system should exhibit but their assessment (on a given system) is usually a complex and cumbersome activity. Formal description techniques are aimed at describing both the system and their expected properties and to demonstrate (or not) that the system really exhibits these properties. Fig. 1 presents the process advocated by DO178-C standard [22] for the design of computing systems in the aeronautics domain. That process highlights the need for explicit representation of expected properties for a given