COM6002 Critical Systems Assignment Brief 2026 | BNU England

COM6002 Assignment Brief

Learning Outcomes

LO1: Interrogate and challenge the role of mathematical modelling in the construction of a specification and its potential limitations and benefits regarding dependability.

Assignment Task

Report (20%)

You are to draft a research Report of no more than 1500 words, which addresses the issues highlighted below: –

“Our module, Critical Systems, covering only one phase of the software development life cycle, has been concerned with formal specification using the language Z. Discuss the motivation for this.”

Below are initial pointers to the relevant literature (by no means an exhaustive list):

Sommerville, I. (2020). Software Engineering. Wokingham: Addison-Wesley ISBN: 0-321-31379-8

Spivey, J. (2017). Understanding Z; A Specification Language and its Formal Semantics. Cambridge University Press.

Task Requirements

Your research Report should provide a balanced overview concerning the application of formal methods in specifying Life Critical Systems. You should also provide suitable real-world examples, whilst highlighting both positive and negative aspects associated with its application.

Note:

1. This is an individual piece of work.
2. There must be a clear structure to your Report.
3. You must clearly reference all sources used.

Marking Criteria

Your work will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates your achievement of the stated learning outcome for this assignment (see below) and against other key criteria, as defined in the University’s institutional grading descriptors. If it is appropriate to the format of your Report and your subject area, a proportion of your marks will also depend upon your use of academic referencing conventions.

This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 6 (re: For a comprehensive overview of these, please refer to the end of this document.) If you are registered with the Disability and Inclusion Services or have a disability, please contact your module leader to discuss how your reasonable adjustments will be applied to this assignment.

• Text type

Although it is appreciated that Reports are closely related to essay writing, there remain clear distinctions. While both rely on facts, essays add the subjective opinions and arguments of the authors. Reports typically stick only to the facts, although they may include the author’s interpretation of these facts, in the conclusion. Moreover, reports are heavily organized, commonly with tables of contents and copious headings and subheadings. This makes it easier for readers to scan reports for the information they seek. Conversely, essays are meant to be read from start to finish, not browsed for specific insights.

This Report will be marked, and feedback provided within 3 weeks of the submission date.

• Purpose

The thinking behind the Report is get the learner to appreciate that critical systems are expensive to develop. Not only must they be developed so that failure is rare, but they must include recovery mechanisms that are used when failure occur. It is the realisation that go wrong at the beginning, it becomes difficult to put it right the further down the software lifecycle. Hence the use of Formal Mathematics in the beginning to generate the all-important Specification.

The Learner should align their Report to address the outcomes associated with LOs 1 of the modules.

• Subject matter

The Report needs to acknowledge that classes of systems are ‘critical systems’ where system failure may result in injury to people, damage to the environment, or extensive economic losses. Furthermore, the learner needs to be aware of typical examples of critical systems that include embedded systems in medical devices, such as an insulin pump (safety critical), spacecraft navigation systems (mission critical), and online money transfer systems (business critical).

The coursework tasks will be based on the topics covered within Weeks 1-8 of the module.

If you are registered with the Disability and Inclusion Services or have a disability, please contact your module leader to discuss how your reasonable adjustments will be applied to this assignment.

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