Developing Self-Managing Embedded Systems with ASSL

Abstract

This research targets formal modeling of 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 formally 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.