Translating expert system rules into Ada code with validation and verification

The purpose of this ongoing research and development program is to develop software tools which enable the rapid development, upgrading, and maintenance of embedded real-time artificial intelligence systems. The goals of this phase of the research were to investigate the feasibility of developing software tools which automatically translate expert system rules into Ada code and develop methods for performing validation and verification testing of the resultant expert system. A prototype system was demonstrated which automatically translated rules from an Air Force expert system was demonstrated which detected errors in the execution of the resultant system. The method and prototype tools for converting AI representations into Ada code by converting the rules into Ada code modules and then linking them with an Activation Framework based run-time environment to form an executable load module are discussed. This method is based upon the use of Evidence Flow Graphs which are a data flow representation for intelligent systems. The development of prototype test generation and evaluation software which was used to test the resultant code is discussed. This testing was performed automatically using Monte-Carlo techniques based upon a constraint based description of the required performance for the system

Runtime visualisation of object-oriented software

Software is a complex and invisible entity, yet one which is core to modem life. The development and maintenance of such software includes one staple task, the need to understand the software at the implementation level. This process of program comprehension is difficult and time consuming. Yet, despite its importance, there remains very limited tool support for program comprehension activities. The results of this research show the role that runtime visualisation can play in aiding the comprehension of object-oriented software by highlighting both its static and dynamic structure. Previous work in this area is discussed, both in terms of the representations used and the methods of extracting runtime information. Building on this previous work, this thesis develops new representations of object-oriented software at runtime, which are then implemented in a proof of concept tool. This tool allowed the representations to be investigated on real software systems. The representations are evaluated against two feature-based evaluation frameworks. The evaluation focuses on generic software visualisation criteria, due to the lack of any specific frameworks for visualising dynamic information. The evaluation also includes lessons learnt in the implementation of a prototype visualisation tool. The object-oriented paradigm continues to grow in popularity and provides advantages to program comprehension activities. However, it also brings a number of new challenges to program comprehension due to the discrepancies between its static definition and its runtime structure. Therefore, techniques that highlight both the static definition and the runtime behaviour of object-oriented systems offer benefits to their comprehension. Software visualisation offers an approach to aid program comprehension activities through providing a means to deal with the size and complexity of the software and its invisible nature. This thesis highlights the generic issues that software visualisation faces, before focusing on how the visualisation of runtime information affects these issues. Many of the issues are compounded by the dynamic nature of the information to be visualised and the explosive growth in the volume of information that this dynamism can bring. Wider results of this research have allowed the proposal of the necessary concepts that should be considered in the design and evaluation of runtime visualisations. Software visualisation at runtime is still a relatively unexplored area and there remains many research challenges within it. This thesis aims to act as a first step to addressing these challenges and aims to promote interest and future development within this area

Application of openBIM for the Management of Existing Railway Infrastructure: Case Study of the Cancello - Benevento Railway Line

In the field of infrastructure, the development and application of the openBIM (open Building Information Modeling) approach and related standards (principally Industry Foundation Classes) remain limited with regard to processes in O&M (Operation and Maintenance) phases, as well as the broader context of AM (Asset Management). This article deals with the activities carried out as part of a pilot project based on the need to manage the operation and assess the condition and value of existing infrastructure along the Cancello–Benevento railway line. The principal goal was to systematize information by digitalizing the infrastructure, in order to enable the assessment of possible performance gaps (compared to national railway standards) in the event of integration within the national infrastructure. In compliance with the project requirements, a digitalization strategy was designed for the definition of surveying activities and the implementation of openBIM systems for the development of an object library and a federated digital model, structured within the collaborative platform that was used, and allowing management, maintenance, and subsequent financial evaluation in the broader context of asset management. The project involved the collaboration of railway operators, a university, and a software company that implemented innovative concepts concerning IFC (specifically, IFC4x2 was used) through the development of dedicated software solutions. The digital solution we proposed enabled the use of digital models as access keys to survey and maintenance information (ERP platforms used by the railway operators) that was available in real time. This project was nominated at the buildingSMART awards 2021 and was one of three finalists in the “Asset Management Using openBIM” category

A REAL-TIME TRAFFIC CONDITION ASSESSMENT AND PREDICTION FRAMEWORK USING VEHICLE-INFRASTRUCTURE INTEGRATION (VII) WITH COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

This research developed a real-time traffic condition assessment and prediction framework using Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration (VII) with computational intelligence to improve the existing traffic surveillance system. Due to the prohibited expenses and complexity involved for the field experiment of such a system, this study adopted state-of-the-art simulation tools as an efficient alternative. This work developed an integrated traffic and communication simulation platform to facilitate the design and evaluation of a wide range of online traffic surveillance and management system in both traffic and communication domain. Using the integrated simulator, the author evaluated the performance of different combination of communication medium and architecture. This evaluation led to the development of a hybrid VII framework exemplified by hierarchical architecture, which is expected to eliminate single point failures, enhance scalability and easy integration of control functions for traffic condition assessment and prediction. In the proposed VII framework, the vehicle on-board equipments and roadside units (RSUs) work collaboratively, based on an intelligent paradigm known as \u27Support Vector Machine (SVM),\u27 to determine the occurrence and characteristics of an incident with the kinetics data generated by vehicles. In addition to incident detection, this research also integrated the computational intelligence paradigm called \u27Support Vector Regression (SVR)\u27 within the hybrid VII framework for improving the travel time prediction capabilities, and supporting on-line leaning functions to improve its performance over time. Two simulation models that fully implemented the functionalities of real-time traffic surveillance were developed on calibrated and validated simulation network for study sites in Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina. The simulation models\u27 encouraging performance on traffic condition assessment and prediction justifies further research on field experiment of such a system to address various research issues in the areas covered by this work, such as availability and accuracy of vehicle kinetic and maneuver data, reliability of wireless communication, maintenance of RSUs and wireless repeaters. The impact of this research will provide a reliable alternative to traditional traffic sensors to assess and predict the condition of the transportation system. The integrated simulation methodology and open source software will provide a tool for design and evaluation of any real-time traffic surveillance and management systems. Additionally, the developed VII simulation models will be made available for use by future researchers and designers of other similar VII systems. Future implementation of the research in the private and public sector will result in new VII related equipment in vehicles, greater control of traffic loading, faster incident detection, improved safety, mitigated congestion, and reduced emissions and fuel consumption

Wireless Sensing System for Load Testing and Rating of Highway Bridges

Structural capacity evaluation of bridges is an increasingly important topic in the effort to deal with the deteriorating infrastructure. Most bridges are evaluated through subjective visual inspection and conservative theoretical rating. Diagnostic load test has been recognized as an effective method to accurately assess the carrying capacity of bridges. Traditional wired sensors and data acquisition (DAQ) systems suffer drawbacks of being labor intensive, high cost, and time consumption in installation and maintenance. For those reasons, very few load tests have been conducted on bridges.;This study aims at developing a low-cost wireless bridge load testing & rating system that can be rapidly deployed on bridges for structural evaluation and load rating. Commercially available wireless hardware is integrated with traditional analogue sensors and the appropriate rating software is developed. The wireless DAQ system can work with traditional strain gages, accelerometers as well as other voltage producing sensors. A wireless truck position indicator (WVPI) is developed and used for measuring the truck position during load testing. The software is capable of calculating the theoretical rating factors based on AASHTO Load Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) codes, and automatically produces the adjustment factor through load testing data. A simplified finite element model was used to calculate deflection & moment distribution factors in order to reduce the amount of instrumentation used in field tests. The system was used to evaluate the structural capacity of Evansville Bridge in Preston County, WV. The results show that the wireless bridge load testing & rating system can effectively be implemented to evaluate the real capacity of bridges with remarkable advantages: low-cost, fast deployment and smaller crew

The safety case and the lessons learned for the reliability and maintainability case

This paper examine the safety case and the lessons learned for the reliability and maintainability case

Software architecture visualisation

Tracing the history of software engineering reveals a series of abstractions. In early days, software engineers would construct software using machine code. As time progressed, software engineers and computer scientists developed higher levels of abstraction in order to provide tools to assist in building larger software systems. This has resulted in high-level languages, modelling languages, design patterns, and software architecture. Software architecture has been recognised as an important tool for designing and building software. Some research takes the view that the success or failure of a software development project depends heavily on the quality of the software architecture. For any software system, there are a number of individuals who have some interest in the architecture. These stakeholders have differing requirements of the software architecture depending on the role that they take. Stakeholders include the architects, designers, developers and also the sales, services and support teams and even the customer for the software. Communication and understanding of the architecture is essential in ensuring that each stakeholder can play their role during the design, development and deployment of that software system. Software visualisation has traditionally been focused on aiding the understanding of software systems by those who perform development and maintenance tasks on that software. In supporting developers and maintainers, software visualisation has been largely concerned with representing static and dynamic aspects of software at the code level. Typically, a software visualisation will represent control flow, classes, objects, import relations and other such low level abstractions of the software. This research identifies the fundamental issues concerning software architecture visualisation. It does this by identifying the practical use of software architecture in the real world, and considers the application of software visualisation techniques to the visualisation of software architecture. The aim of this research is to explore the ways in which software architecture visualisation can assist in the tasks undertaken by the differing stakeholders in a software system and its architecture. A prototype tool, named ArchVis, has been developed to enable the exploration of some of the fundamental issues in software architecture visualisation. ArchVis is a new approach to software architecture visualisation that is capable of utilising multiple sources and representations of architecture in order to generate multiple views of software architecture. The mechanism by which views are generated means that they can be more relevant to a wider collection of stakeholders in that architecture. During evaluation ArchVis demonstrates the capability of utilising a number of data sources in order to produce architecture visualisations. Arch Vis' view model is capable of generating the necessary views for architecture stakeholders and those stakeholders can navigate through the views and data in order to obtain relevant information. The results of evaluating ArchVis using a framework and scenarios demonstrate that the majority of the objectives of this research have been achieved

An architecture-based dependability modeling framework using AADL

For efficiency reasons, the software system designers' will is to use an integrated set of methods and tools to describe specifications and designs, and also to perform analyses such as dependability, schedulability and performance. AADL (Architecture Analysis and Design Language) has proved to be efficient for software architecture modeling. In addition, AADL was designed to accommodate several types of analyses. This paper presents an iterative dependency-driven approach for dependability modeling using AADL. It is illustrated on a small example. This approach is part of a complete framework that allows the generation of dependability analysis and evaluation models from AADL models to support the analysis of software and system architectures, in critical application domains