Peter Bishop
Position: Chief Scientist

Peter has BSc and MSc degrees in Physics and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Engineers and the IEE. He is also a Professor at the Centre for Software reliability, sharing a joint chair with Robin Bloomfield.

Between 1969 and 1991 he was employed in the research laboratories of the CEGB and National Power. Initially Peter was involved in the development of process automation systems and software. During that time he developed graphics software, a real-time operating disk-based system, a number of compilers, assemblers and linkers for microprocessors, and advanced `self-healing' networking software for real-time process control. He has also participated in the development of the CEGB standard process-control system (CUTLASS), which is used in the majority of electrical power plants in England and Wales.

In the following ten years his work was primarily with software reliability research and assessment. This work included research into formal specification methods, verification and testing, software diversity and fault tolerance. Most of this research was performed in international collaborations with UK and European partners. Three projects were undertaken as part of the OECD Halden Reactor Project research programme and one project (DARTS) was undertaken under the ESPRIT programme. He was also heavily involved in the assessment of the Sizewell B Primary Protection System software.

After joining Adelard he has been involved in safety critical systems research and consultancy, including:

▫ (2004) Analysis of the safety requirements for the FlexRay automotive network design

▫ (2002-2004) Project leader of a research study for the safety regulation group of the CAA on the quantitative modelling of air traffic safety.

▫ (2002-2003) Production of guidance for the HSE on Learning from Incident involving eletrical/electronic and programmable electronic systems.

▫ (2002-present) Safety integrity analysis research study on smart sensor software for the UK C&I Nuclear Industry Forum

▫ (2002-present) Independent safety auditor for Bowman (MOD battlefield command and control system)

▫ (2001-2003) Adelard team manager for the European research project on the Cost Effective Modernisation of Systems Important to Safety (CEMSIS).

▫ (2001) Independent safety assessor for the HSE ECOSHH safety advice tool

▫ (2000-2003) Adelard project manager for the functional hazard analysis of the aircraft avionics functions developed in the EU AFAS project

▫ (1996–Present) Member of Adelard’s Independent Safety Audit (ISA) team for three military air-defence command and control systems.

▫ (1996–1997) Contributed to a project for the DRA to develop formal semantics for safety analysis techniques.

▫ (1992–1995) Adelard project manager for the CEC sponsored collaborative research project Ship on the safety assessment of hazardous industrial processes.

▫ (1994-2000) Adelard project manager for the Quarc series of projects, supported by the UK nuclear industry, carrying out research into the quantification of safety related software reliability.

He is an internationally known expert in the field of software reliability. His research work has been reported in a wide range of books, journals and conference proceedings.