A Development Platform to Evaluate UAV Runtime Verification Through Hardware-in-the-loop Simulation
| dc.contributor.author | Rafeeq, Akhil Ahmed | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Patterson, Cameron D. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Min, Chang Woo | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Hicks, Matthew | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Electrical and Computer Engineering | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-06-18T08:02:25Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2020-06-18T08:02:25Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-06-17 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The popularity and demand for safe autonomous vehicles are on the rise. Advances in semiconductor technology have led to the integration of a wide range of sensors with high-performance computers, all onboard the autonomous vehicles. The complexity of the software controlling the vehicles has also seen steady growth in recent years. Verifying the control software using traditional verification techniques is difficult and thus increases their safety concerns. Runtime verification is an efficient technique to ensure the autonomous vehicle's actions are limited to a set of acceptable behaviors that are deemed safe. The acceptable behaviors are formally described in linear temporal logic (LTL) specifications. The sensor data is actively monitored to verify its adherence to the LTL specifications using monitors. Corrective action is taken if a violation of a specification is found. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development platform is proposed for the validation of monitors on configurable hardware. A high-fidelity simulator is used to emulate the UAV and the virtual environment, thereby eliminating the need for a real UAV. The platform interfaces the emulated UAV with monitors implemented on configurable hardware and autopilot software running on a flight controller. The proposed platform allows the implementation of monitors in an isolated and scalable manner. Scenarios violating the LTL specifications can be generated in the simulator to validate the functioning of the monitors. | en |
| dc.description.abstractgeneral | Safety is one of the most crucial factors considered when designing an autonomous vehicle. Modern vehicles that use a machine learning-based control algorithm can have unpredictable behavior in real-world scenarios that were not anticipated while training the algorithm. Verifying the underlying software code with all possible scenarios is a difficult task. Runtime verification is an efficient solution where a relatively simple set of monitors validate the decisions made by the sophisticated control software against a set of predefined rules. If the monitors detect an erroneous behavior, they initiate a predetermined corrective action. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), like drones, are a class of autonomous vehicles that use complex software to control their flight. This thesis proposes a platform that allows the development and validation of monitors for UAVs using configurable hardware. The UAV is emulated on a high-fidelity simulator, thereby eliminating the time-consuming process of flying and validating monitors on a real UAV. The platform supports the implementation of multiple monitors that can execute in parallel. Scenarios to violate rules and cause the monitors to trigger corrective actions can easily be generated on the simulator. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Master of Science | en |
| dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
| dc.identifier.other | vt_gsexam:26289 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/99041 | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | Runtime Verification | en |
| dc.subject | Drone aircraft | en |
| dc.subject | Hardware-in-the-loop Simulation | en |
| dc.subject | Hardware and Software Monitors | en |
| dc.subject | PSoC | en |
| dc.subject | Field programmable gate arrays | en |
| dc.title | A Development Platform to Evaluate UAV Runtime Verification Through Hardware-in-the-loop Simulation | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Computer Engineering | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |
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