Run-time Verification and Validation for Safety-Critical Flight Control Systems

As the complexity of flight controllers grows, so does the cost associated with verification and validation (V&V). Current-generation controllers are already reaching a level of complexity that pushes the envelopes of existing V&V approaches, with little hope for affordable V&V of next-generation intelligent systems. One possible solution is to combine run-time monitors for subsystem components with simple backup modules that provide a safe reversionary mode during undesirable conditions. Such an architecture allows the V&V to be partitioned into design-time V&V (for the relatively simple monitor and fail-safe subsystems), and run-time V&V (for the full complex controller). Barron Associates proposes a Phase II plan of research to develop and demonstrate run-time monitoring approaches for flight-critical systems. The Phase II research will refine the Phase I approach, leverage recent research in safety-critical systems outside the aerospace community, and apply lessons learned during Lockheed’s Verification and Validation of Intelligent and Adaptive Control Systems (VVIACS) program. Phase II will culminate in a real-time hardware-in-the-loop demonstration of run-time V&V monitoring of an adaptive/autonomous UAV system. The proposed technology addresses a critical DoD and commercial need, and Barron Associates has letters of support from Lockheed (our teammate), Boeing, Northrop Grumman, NASA, and the Navy.