13 Jul 2016.

The STAMP Paradigm

In her pioneering work, Leveson (2004) introduced the STAMP paradigm, asserting that the system should constrain its own behavior.

Background

The STAMP paradigm integrates two concepts from other fields :

• Software engineering : Rule-based programming, implemented in Prolog ( Wiki )
• Cognitive engineering : Automatic identification of exceptional situations based on analysis of the user activity ( Reference )

According to the STAMP paradigm, safety issues are due to violations of (explicit or implicit ) rules defining proper operation. To avoid safety issues, the operational rules should be stated explicitly, and the system should constrain its operation according to these rules.

Implementation

This guide implements the STAMP paradigm of self-control. The guidelines in this guide include instructions about:

• Constraining the system activity to stay in a design scope, of well-supported situations, avoiding unpredictable situations
• Designing units implementing the self-control, arranging them in a resilience-oriented architecture ... supporting graceful reaction to deviations from the rules.
• Specifying the rules describing normal and exceptional system behavior, resilience features and add-ons, and the system response to deviations from the rules.