Researchers Use Brain Interface to Post to Twitter University of Wisconsin-Madison (04/20/09) Meiller, Renee
as it appeared in the April 24, 2009 edition of ACM TechNews.
Carnegie Mellon University professors Edmund M. Clarke and Andre Platzer have developed a new method for identifying bugs in cyberphysical systems such as aircraft collision avoidance systems and high-speed train controls. The method has already discovered a bug in aircraft collision avoidance maneuvers that could have caused mid-air collisions, and has verified the soundness of the European Train Control System. "With systems becoming more and more complex, mere trial-and-error testing is unlikely to detect subtle problems in system design that can cause disastrous malfunctions," Clarke says. "Our method is the first that can prove these complex cyber-physical systems operate as intended, or else generate counterexamples of how they can fail using computer simulation." The method was used to analyze roundabout maneuvers in aircraft collisions, which are employed when two aircraft are on rapidly converging paths and involve both pilots turning right and then circling to the left until the two aircraft can safely turn right and continue on their original trajectories. The method found that when the aircraft approach at certain angles the roundabout maneuver actually creates a new collision course that the pilots may not be able to avoid. The method also could be used on other cyberphysical systems such as robotic surgery and nano-level manufacturing. View Full Article
