Detection and Mitigation of Clock Deviation in the Verification & Validation of Drone-aided Lifting Operations

Abstract

Modern Cyber–Physical systems rely on diverse computation logic, communication protocols, and technologies and are susceptible to environmental phenomena and production errors that can significantly impact system behavior. The resilience of these systems necessitates considering factors during the high-level design stages to enable accurate functional forecasting and correctness. This paper presents an approach that models clock deviation’s effects within physical and environmental conditions to perform verification & validation in the context of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle domain (UAV). We employ the OMNeT++ simulation framework to define the system’s behavior in a components–port–connectors fashion. The approach leverages Probabilistic Decision Tree rules derived from the OMNeT++ simulation chart. The resulting rule-based model is then interpreted in the PRISM language for automated model verification. To validate our approach, we investigate how clock deviations influence the correctness of drone-aided lifting operations which is our primary focus, serving as a representative application scenario. The research examines clock deviations from multiple sources, including conformance to standard specifications, product manufacturing variations, operational failures, humidity, and operating temperature changes. Our examination explores the potential of validation through simulation and model checking while also studying the approach’s effectiveness through a sensitive analysis. Furthermore, the approach is demonstrated in the context of robot orchestration and water dam infrastructure for generalization purposes in Cyber–Physical Systems modeling. The research highlights the approach’s effectiveness by demonstrating its applicability, including those that incorporate degradation factors.