SBIR Phase I: HARBINGER: A Networked Embedded Systems Design Environment

Kestrel Technology Llc, Palo Alto CA

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the problem of constructing high-assurance real-time, networked embedded systems. The project will develop a design environment, called HARBINGER, supporting the specification, composition, analysis, and refinement-to-code of embedded systems, in a way that preserves consistency between requirements and code. HARBINGER will also supported guided refinement, e.g., by generating resource tradeoffs throughout the process, enable capture and reuse of design knowledge, and yield formal proofs of correctness to the extent possible. It is anticipated that HARBINGER will lower the cost of producing new embedded systems and improve the assurance of their correctness. Once in use, HARBINGER will also make radical improvements in the evolution of systems originally constructed in its environment. Practical problems such as targeting applications to changing host platforms will be handled much more easily within HARBINGER In this project, the firm will assess the practicality and effectiveness of the HARBINGER approach for commercially important applications. This will require selecting an initial market with strong requirements for high assurance software and systems as the basis for a proposal for the next phase of the research. Initial application candidates include automotive and aviation vehicle control systems, areas in which the firm has extensive connections. In both of these areas, attention will be paid to the practical consideration of legacy code and to the impact of important new protocols.