The paper suggests a model-based approach to assessment and choice of parameters of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fleets applied as one of the main services for Smart Cities and recommendations to assure their dependability. The principles of building and modeling a UAV Fleet as a Dependable Service (UAVFaaDS) for Smart Cities are formulated. Dependability issues for UAVFaaDS including a taxonomy of UAVF failures caused by equipment faults and attacks on assets were specified. The main results cover methodology, classification of UAVFaaDS models as models of queuing systems, and a set of queueing theory-based models for assessment of UAVFaaDS performance, and availability allowing for analysis and choice of fleet parameters. The efficiency of UAVFaaDS is assessed by the probability of successful delivery of services. The proposed modeling base and algorithms provide a choice of appropriate models for analysis and synthesis of UAVFaaDS, grounding of parameters of UAV fleets considering operation modes, and maintenance policy. The application of the developed models and algorithms during the synthesis of UAVFaaDS allows choosing the appropriate parameters of the fleet and ensuring the dependability of services, as well as service of orders with a probability of 0.9–0.99 depending on the requirements. Two cases of UAVFaaDS application for delivery of medicines in normal and emergence modes, models’ development, and recommendations for their utilization are discussed.

This paper evaluates the status quo of modern society and identifies the neglect of humanism as the root cause of many of today’s global challenges. Note that “smart cities” are not excluded from this indictment. The “Ptolemaic Universe” offers a means to restore our symbiosis with the environment. The ReSeT model is proposed as a tool to analyze the Ptolemaic Universe. Using ReSeT: Homo Sapiens becomes dependent on AI resulting in Homo Digitalis, with further evolution in concert with AI resulting in Homo Digitus. All of these stages are then analyzed in the context of global trusted dependability (GTD). The wellness domain, provides the design specification framework for Homo Digitus’ human-centered and resilient “smart city” ecosystem. This ultimately leads to a better world of increased wellness for Homo Hominus, with better smart cities emphasizing education and science, promoting wisdom and common sense, and rejecting violence. In summary, humanity has generated diverse social structures with erratic outcomes. On the other hand, technology provides a successful foundation for modern society especially in the Pandemic Era. However, technology’s contributions are generally not publicly acknowledged. The paper concludes with several initiatives designed to establish a trusted and resilient society.

The article is devoted to analysis of problems of the computer system development in the domain of critical applications. The main trends of this development were highlighted, which consisted in increased demands for performance based on parallelization of calculations, processing of approximate data and ensuring functional safety in accordance with the need for structuring for parallelism and fuzziness of the natural world, as well as with increased responsibility in decisions made. Analysis of problems encountered in implementation of existing solutions was carried out. There was a lag behind theories limited by the model of exact data from the practice of processing approximate data for modern systems receiving initial data from sensors, including safety-related systems. The problems of matrix structures, which underlie the design of modern computer systems and demonstrate low efficiency in performance and power consumption, as well as in providing functional safety, important for critical applications, are disclosed. The application of fault-tolerant solutions as the basis of functional safety and distrust of these solutions, which is manifested in the practice of using dangerous imitation modes, were noted. They recreate emergency conditions to improve the checkability in solving the problem of hidden faults, since a fault-tolerant solution does not become fail-safe when there is a shortage of checkability. An analysis was given to the sources of the problems considered and the possibilities of solving them from the point of view of a resource-based approach, which identifies the problem of hidden faults as a challenge of growth with a lag of components from the development of the system. The role of matrix structures in the backlog of components and the need to solve the problem by repeating the version redundancy for these structures are shown. Method of introduction of version redundancy into matrix structure on the basis of strongly connected versions for solution of problems of fault tolerance and checkability in complex is proposed. The effectiveness of the method is estimated on an example of the iterative array multiplier using its software model.