Using model checking to guarantee safety in automatically-synthesized real-time controllers

Concerns the development of autonomous, flexible control systems for mission-critical applications such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and deep space probes. These applications require hybrid real-time control systems, capable of effectively managing both discrete and continuous controllable parameters to maintain system safety and achieve system goals. Using the CIRCA architecture and its state space planner (SSP) for adaptive real-time control systems, these controllers are synthesized automatically and dynamically, online, while the platform is operating. Unlike many other AI planning systems, CIRCA's automatically-generated control plans have strong temporal semantics and provide safety guarantees, ensuring that the controlled system will avoid all forms of mission-critical failure. This paper is intended to convey an intuitive, qualitative understanding of the way CIRCA verifies its plans using model checking techniques.