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

汽车、飞机和放射治疗机都是安全关键的网络物理系统的例子，即将软件和物理制品聚集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型系统，因为意外故障可能会迅速导致生命损失。这个项目关注于调查工业对未来几代网络物理系统开发的需求，特别强调软件对整体系统安全的影响。通过正确确定行业需求，该团队将能够建立有效和相关的安全关键软件开发流程，并就需要开发的产品提出建议，以支持这一流程。为此，调查人员将与行业代表进行一系列面对面的面谈，面谈的结果将与业务发展专家分享。为了支持采访，该团队将依靠其在构建原型工具方面的经验，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。可信的自动编码是项目团队创造的一个术语，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，可信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，才能被民间社会接受；可信的自动编码带来的较低开发成本也将确保更多的人能够享受网络物理革命的好处，因为这将使小公司能够在一个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中竞争。这项研究将包括对几位从事市场工作的决策者的现场采访，在这些市场中，可信的自动编码可能是必要的。这些面谈的结果将定期以结构化的方式提交给NSF I-Corps管理层认可的专家。一个积极的结果将为i-Corps团队获得资金并继续进行符合行业需求的产品开发活动提供坚实的基础。无论结果如何，这些结果都将使团队有机会调整其产品定义工作。这种适应可能发生在所有层面上，从产品包装到该团队在安全关键的网络物理系统领域所追求的基本研究选择。这些活动将得到该团队在NSF先前资助下开发的可信的自动编码原型Gene-Auto的支持。

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.