I-Corps: Market Evaluation for Credible Autocoding (MECA)

汽车、飞机和放射治疗机都是安全关键型网络物理系统的例子，即将软件和物理工件结合在一起形成对社会具有高功能价值的智能系统的系统。这些系统被称为安全关键系统，因为意外故障会迅速导致生命损失。该项目关注的是调查未来几代网络物理系统发展的工业需求，特别强调软件对整个系统安全的影响。通过正确地识别行业需求，团队将能够建立一个有效且相关的安全关键软件开发过程，并制定关于需要开发的产品的建议，以支持该过程。为此，调查人员将与业界代表进行一系列面对面访谈，并与业务发展专家分享访谈结果。为了支持面试，团队将依靠其构建原型工具的经验，该工具可以自动将高级安全关键软件规范转换为无错误的计算机程序。可信的自动编码是一个由项目团队创造的术语，它是将网络物理软件系统规范转换为代码的活动，以及代码本身符合这些系统规范的可验证保证。该项目的假设是，可靠的自动编码将有助于达到这些系统必须达到的非常高的安全水平，以便被民间社会接受；可靠的自动编码带来的更低的开发成本也将确保更广泛的人口能够享受到网络物理革命的好处，因为这将允许小公司在目前只有大公司才能负担得起安全关键软件认证的极端成本的市场上竞争。本研究将包括与几位决策者的现场访谈，在这些决策者中，可信的自动编码可能是必要的。这些访谈的结果将以结构化的方式定期提交给NSF I-Corps管理层认可的专家。一个积极的结果将提供一个坚实的基础，在此基础上，I-Corps团队可以获得资金并继续进行产品开发活动，以满足行业需求。年代的需要。无论结果如何，这些结果都将给团队提供一个调整其产品定义工作的机会。这种适应可能发生在各个层面，从产品包装到团队在安全关键领域所追求的基础研究选择，网络物理系统。这些活动将由Gene-Auto+支持，这是该团队在美国国家科学基金会的资助下开发的可靠的自动编码原型。

Automobiles, airplanes, and radio-therapy machines are all examples of safety-critical cyber-physical systems, i.e., systems that bring together software and physical artifacts to form intelligent systems of high functional value to society. These systems are called safety-critical, because unanticipated failures can rapidly lead to the loss of lives. This project is concerned with investigating the needs of industry for the development of future generations of cyber-physical systems, with a specific emphasis on software's impact on overall system safety. By properly identifying industry's needs, the team will be able to establish an effective and relevant safety-critical software development process and formulate recommendations about the products that need developing in support of this process. To do so, the investigators will engage into a series of face-to-face interviews with industry representatives, and the findings of the interviews will be shared with business development specialists. To support the interviews, the team will rely on its experience with building a prototype tool that automatically turns high-level safety-critical software specifications into error-free computer programs. Credible autocoding, a term coined by the project team, is the activity whereby cyber-physical software system specifications are transformed into code, together with the verifiable assurance that the code itself meets those system specifications. The hypothesis of this project is that credible autocoding will contribute to reaching the very high levels of safety these systems must achieve in order to be accepted by civil society; the lower development costs enabled by credible autocoding will also ensure that a broader share of the population will be able to enjoy the benefits of the cyber-physical revolution, as this will allow small companies to compete in a market where currently only big players can afford extreme costs of safety-critical software certification. This study will consist of on-site interviews with several decision-makers working with the markets in which credible autocoding might be a necessity. The outcome of these interviews will be presented in a structured fashion to experts accredited by the NSF I-Corps management at regular intervals. A positive outcome would provide a solid base upon which the I-Corps team can obtain funding and proceed with product development activities meeting industry?s needs. No matter what the outcome, these results will give the team an opportunity to adapt its product definition effort. Such an adaptation may occur at all levels, ranging from product packaging to the basic research options pursued by the team in the area of safety-critical, cyber-physical systems. These activities will be supported by Gene-Auto+, the team's credible autocoding prototype developed under prior funding from NSF.