Communication Supervision Using Formal Models for Mixed-Criticality Software
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for mixed criticality environments, such as real-time on-board systems for autonomous vehicles, lack a comprehensive method to formally verify compliance with specified behaviors and integrate software implementations across heterogeneous platforms, especially when different criticality levels coexist and communication behaviors change dynamically.
Innovation Solution
A supervisory system that acquires a formal model of data streams and communication specifications, verifying sequences of calls to communication functions against expected behaviors, allowing integration of software implementations in any language on a heterogeneous platform without modification, using automata to ensure correct communication sequences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If formal verification methods are implemented to ensure compliance with specified behaviors, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for formal models and supervisory mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a supervisory module as an intermediary component that sits between the concrete applications and the formal specification. This module acquires the formal model of data streams and communication specifications, then monitors and verifies the actual communications against these specifications. The supervisory module acts as a mediator that enables formal verification without requiring modification of the underlying applications, thus improving reliability while containing complexity in a dedicated verification layer.
2Adaptability or versatility
If software implementations in any language are integrated on a heterogeneous platform, then adaptability is improved, but difficulty of detecting and measuring communication compliance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies homogeneity by establishing a unified formal model framework that abstracts away the heterogeneity of different programming languages and platforms. The supervisory module uses a consistent acquisition interface to obtain formal models regardless of the underlying software implementation language. This creates a homogeneous verification layer that can uniformly detect and measure communication compliance across diverse software implementations, solving the measurement difficulty while maintaining adaptability.
3Measurement precision
If formal specifications include all constraints for mixed criticality systems, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases due to comprehensive resource allocation verification
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the formal specification into distinct components: data stream models, communication specifications, and behavioral constraints. The supervisory module processes these segmented specifications separately, acquiring and verifying each aspect independently. This segmentation allows precise measurement of behavioral compliance for each segment while managing overall complexity through modular verification, avoiding the need to handle all constraints as a monolithic complex system.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is provided for formally monitoring communications of a set of specific applications of a platform. The system includes an acquisition module configured to acquire a formal model of a data stream describing the behaviour of a group of participants modelling the set of specific applications, and a communication specification describing software implementations implementing the applications modelled by the participants. The software implementations are configured to call up predetermined communication functions, and a monitoring module is configured to verify that a sequence for calling up the communication functions complies with the expected behaviour of the group of participants.