A safety-critical system is a system in which the software
malfunctioning could result in death, injury, or damage to the
environment. Addressing safety concerns early on at the architecture
design level is critical to guide the subsequent life cycle activities
to ensure that the eventual system is reliable. A fundamental approach
to address safety at the design level is the adoption of architectural
tactics. It is crucial for safety-critical systems to correctly
implement the constraints as defined by the selected safety tactics.
This article proposes a systematic approach for assessing the adequacy
of test suites of safety-critical systems based on these architectural
safety tactics. We use a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of our
approach using fault-injection techniques. Our study shows that this
systematic approach is feasible and effective for test suite assessment
of safety-critical systems.