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The ASSL approach to specifying self‐managing embedded systems
Author(s) -
Vassev Emil,
Hinchey Mike
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
concurrency and computation: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.309
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1532-0634
pISSN - 1532-0626
DOI - 10.1002/cpe.1758
Subject(s) - computer science , software engineering , software , event (particle physics) , set (abstract data type) , distributed computing , embedded system , systems engineering , programming language , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
SUMMARY The increasing complexity of contemporary embedded computing systems requires the use of self‐management in order to handle unforeseen changes in both hardware and control software. The idea behind computer systems capable of self‐management is a complex concept compound by many aspects related to both artificial intelligence and awareness. Here, the biggest challenge is still the question how to properly develop and verify such systems. In this paper, we present a formal approach to specifying embedded systems capable of self‐management. In our approach, we use the ASSL (autonomic system specification language) framework as a development environment, where self‐management features of embedded systems are specified and an implementation is automatically generated. ASSL exposes a rich set of specification constructs that help developers specify event‐driven embedded systems. Hardware is sensed via special metrics intended to drive events and self‐management policies that help the system handle critical situations in an autonomous reactive manner. We present this approach along with a simulation case study where ASSL is used to develop control software for the wide‐angle camera carried on board NASA's Voyager II Spacecraft. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.