Rockwell Collins Applies New NASA Software Verification Technology

AEROSPACE

Cedar Rapids IA (SPX) Jul 21, 2005
Rockwell Collins has successfully applied advanced software verification technology developed under NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program (AvSSP) to key components of the company's ADGS-2100 Adaptive Display & Guidance System and the FCS-5000 Flight Control System.

The application of this technology has allowed Rockwell Collins to formally prove over 400 key safety properties early in the development life cycle and to find errors much sooner and more efficiently than would be possible with traditional verification techniques.

Rockwell Collins collaborated with the University of Minnesota and NASA to develop the application of this technology.

"This is a perfect example of NASA accelerating the transfer of academic research into industrial use," said Steven Miller, PhD, Principal Software Engineer in the Advanced Technology Center at Rockwell Collins.

This advance was made possible by integrating formal verification tools with popular commercial modeling tools such as MATLAB Simulink software.

Highly optimized translators developed by Rockwell Collins and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota transform production models into a variety of formal analysis tools including the popular NuSMV model checker and the SAL verification tools from SRI International.

Several factors were necessary for the successful application of formal verification to Rockwell Collins' production systems. Key was the development of algorithms within the translators that optimize the generated models for specific analysis tools. These optimizations reduced the time required for model checking by up to five orders of magnitude.

The basic research underlying the translators was conducted by Professor Mats Heimdahl's Critical Systems Research Group at the University of Minnesota.

"It has been enormously rewarding to see many years of our research have a real impact in practice," said Heimdahl. "Our collaboration with Rockwell Collins has been an excellent combination of academic research, industry research, and highly successful technology transfer. We look forward to maintaining this successful collaboration."

Rockwell Collins hopes to expand the range of models it can formally analyze by extending their existing tool suite.

"Ultimately, we'd like to be able to prove safety properties of an entire avionics system, not just a single complex component. That would let us integrate systems engineering and safety analysis around a common formal model of the system architecture." said Miller.

AEROSPACE

Northrop Grumman to Help NASA Define Requirements for Quiet Sonic Boom Research Aircraft

El Segundo CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2005
A Northrop Grumman-led team has been selected by NASA to help define requirements for a new aircraft that would be used to test theories about how to reduce the disruptive, window-rattling effects of an aircraft's sonic boom.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT Ultra-Wide-Band Research Poised To Save Lives In Rescue, Combat MESA Network May Boost Homeland Security Britain To Press For Disaster Response Fund At UN Summit: Minister Tsunami Aid Across Asia Failing To Get To Those Worst-Affected	CLIMATE SCIENCE Field Tests Unite Weather And Climate Models World Faces Massive Increase In CO2 Emissions As Population Grows El Nino and La Nina Siberia Three Degrees Warmer Than 45 Years Ago, Study Warns
EARTH OBSERVATION EarthMap Solutions Launches YieldTrax Methane's Impacts On Climate Change May Be Twice Previous Estimates FY -2C Satellite Ready For Full Operation Balloons Launched Over Equatorial Brazil Validate Envisat	ENERGY TECH Analysis: Energy Influences EU Geo Politics Geophysics Graduate Blazes New Trails For UH In Seismic Exploration Devices Increase Potential For Flexible, Light-Weight Power Japan To Seek Ban On All Nuclear Use In NKorea, Even For Power: Media
EPIDEMICS Trymanosomes Genome Sleeping Sickness Chagas Disease Leishmaniasis Bill Clinton To Push AIDS Initiative On Africa Tour Muslim Nations Face AIDS Reality Health Wrap: Bad Week For Antibiotics	FLORA AND FAUNA Woods Hole Research Center Plans Controlled Burn In Amazon Rainforest Expanding Forests Darken The Outlook For Butterflies, Study Shows Understanding The Meaning Of "Nothing" World's Oldest Panda On Road To Recovery
FROTH AND BUBBLE Northern California Oil Refineries Get Tougher Pollution Standard Northeast US Shows Highest Levels Of Ground Water Contamination Beaches On Italy's Riviera Deserted Amid Toxic Algae Fears Indonesian Court To Start Newmont Mine Pollution Trial Early Next Month	ABOUT US Child-Proofing Planet Earth Good Connections Are Everything The Synapse Is A Shotgun Scientists Find Clues To Memory Health

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement