Experiences with a Requirements-Based Programming Approach to the Development of a NASA Autonomous Ground Control System

Requirements-to-Design-to-Code (R2D2C) is an approach to the engineering of computer-based systems that embodies the idea of requirements-based programming in system development. It goes further; however, in that the approach offers not only an underlying formalism, but full formal development from requirements capture through to the automatic generation of provably-correct code. As such, the approach has direct application to the development of systems requiring autonomic properties. We describe a prototype tool to support the method, and illustrate its applicability to the development of LOGOS, a NASA autonomous ground control system, which exhibits autonomic behavior. Finally, we briefly discuss other areas where the approach and prototype tool are being considered for application

Autonomic Management of Space Missions

With NASA s renewed commitment to outer space exploration, greater emphasis is being placed on both human and robotic exploration. Even when humans are involved in the exploration, human tending of assets becomes cost-prohibitive or in many cases is simply not feasible. In addition, certain exploration missions will require spacecraft that will be capable of venturing where humans cannot be sent. Early space missions were operated manually from ground control centers with little or no automated operations. In the mid-l980s, the high costs of satellite operations prompted NASA, and others, to begin automating as many functions as possible. In our context, a system is autonomous if it can achieve its goals without human intervention. A number of more-or-less automated ground systems exist today, but work continues with the goal being to reduce operations costs to even lower levels. Cost reductions can be achieved in a number of areas. Ground control and spacecraft operations are two such areas where greater autonomy can reduce costs. As a consequence, autonomy is increasingly seen as a critical approach for robotic missions and for some aspects of manned missions. Although autonomy will be critical for the success of future missions (and indeed will enable certain kinds of science data gathering approaches), missions imbued with autonomy must also exhibit autonomic properties. Exploitation of autonomy alone, without emphasis on autonomic properties, will leave spacecraft vulnerable to the dangerous environments in which they must operate. Without autonomic properties, a spacecraft may be unable to recognize negative environmental effects on its components and subsystems, or may be unable to take any action to ameliorate the effects. The spacecraft, though operating autonomously, may then sustain a degradation of performance of components or subsystems, and consequently may have a reduced potential for achieving mission objectives. In extreme cases, lack of autonomic properties could leave the spacecraft unable to recover from faults. Ensuring that exploration spacecraft have autonomic properties will increase the survivability and therefore the likelihood of success of these missions. In fact, over time, as mission requirements increased demands on spacecraft capabilities and longevity, designers have gradually built more autonomicity into spacecraft. For example, a spacecraft in low-earth orbit may experience an out-of-bounds perturbation of its attitude (orientation) due to increased drag caused by increased atmospheric density at its altitude as a result of a sufficiently large solar flare. If the spacecraft was designed to recognize the excessive attitude perturbation, it could decide to protect itself by going into a safe-hold mode where its internal configuration and operation are altered to conserve power and its coarse attitude is adjusted to point its solar panels toward the Sun to maximize power generation. This is an example of a simple type of autonomic behavior that has actually occurred. Future mission concepts will be increasingly dependent on space system survivability enabled by more advanced types of autonomic behavior

Multi-Agent Approach to Modeling and Implementing Fault-Tolerance in Reactive Autonomic Systems

Recently, autonomic computing has been proposed as a promising solution for software complexity in IT industry. As an autonomic approach, the Reactive Autonomic Systems Framework (RASF) proposes a formal modeling based on mathematical category theory, which addresses the self-* properties of reactive autonomic systems in a more abstract level. This thesis is about the specification and implementation of the reactive autonomic systems (RAS) through multi-agent approach by laying emphasis on the fault-tolerance property of RAS. Furthermore, this thesis proposes a model-driven approach to transform the RAS model to agent templates in multi-agent model using Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT). The multi-agent approach in this research is implemented by Jadex, a high-level Java-based agent programming language. The intelligent agents are created in Jadex based on the Belief-Desire-Intension (BDI) agent architecture. The approach is illustrated on a case study

Towards a Formal Reactive Autonomic Systems Framework using Category Theory

Software complexity is the main obstacle to further progress in IT industry, as the difficulty of managing complex and massive computing systems goes well beyond IT administrators’ capabilities. One of the remaining options is autonomic computing, which helps to address complexity by using technology to manage technology in terms of hiding and removing low level complexities from end users. Real-time reactive systems are some of the most complex systems that have become increasingly heterogeneous and intelligent. Thus, we want to add autonomic features to real-time reactive systems by building a formal framework, Reactive Autonomic Systems Framework (RASF), which can leverage specification, modeling and development of Reactive Autonomic Systems (RAS). With autonomic behavior, the real-time reactive systems are more self-managed to themselves and more adaptive to their environment. Formal methods are proven approaches to ensure the correct operation of complex interacting systems. However, many current formal approaches do not have appropriate mechanisms to specify RAS and have not addressed well on verifying self-management behavior, which is one of the most important features of the RAS. The management of evolving specifications and analysis of changes require a specification structure, which can isolate those changes in a small number of components and analyze the impacts of a change on interconnected components. Category theory has been proposed as a framework to offer that structure; it has a rich body of theory to reason about objects and their relations. Furthermore, category theory adopts a correct by construction approach by which components can be specified, proved and composed in the way of preserving their properties. In the multi-agent community, agent-based approach is considered as a natural way to model and implement autonomic systems, as the ability of an autonomous agent can be easily mapped to the self-management behaviors in autonomic systems. Thus, many ideas from the Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) community can be adapted to implement the autonomic systems, such as the self-management behavior, automatic group formation, interfacing and evolution. Therefore, in terms of achieving our research goal, we need to i) build an architecture and corresponding communication mechanism for modeling both reactive and autonomic behavior of the RAS, ii) formally specify the architecture, communication and behavior above using category theory, iii) design and implement the architecture, communication as well as behavior of the RAS model by the MAS approach with its implementation and iv) illustrate our RASF methodology and approach with case studies

From logos to bios : Hellenic philosophy and evolutionary biology

This thesis deals with the relation of Hellenic philosophy to evolutionary biology. The first part entails an explication of Hellenic cosmology and metaphysics in its traditional understanding, as the Western component of classical Indo-European philosophy. It includes an overview of the relevant contributions by the Presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists, focusing on the structure and origin of both the intelligible and sensible worlds. Salient aspects thereof are the movement from the transcendent Principle into the realm of Manifestation by means of the interaction between Essence and Substance; the role of the Logos, being the equivalent of Plato’s Demiurge and Aristotle’s Prime Mover, in the cosmogonic process; the interaction between Intellect and Necessity in the formation of the cosmos; the various kinds of causality contributing to the establishment of physical reality; and the priority of being over becoming, which in the case of living organisms entails the primacy of soul over body. The first part of the thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications of Hellenic cosmology and metaphysics for evolutionary biology, including an affirmation of final and formal causality over and against its rejection by the modern scientific project. The second part commences with a delineation of organic form and transformation, emphasizing the mathematical foundations thereof. It continues with a critical consideration of the modern evolutionary theory on both scientific and philosophical grounds. In the process a fundamental distinction is made between micro- and macro-evolution, involving the reshuffling of existing genetic material which is acted upon by natural selection, and the production of new genetic material by means of macro-mutations, respectively. In the remainder of the thesis the macro-evolutionary process is described as mainly lawful, directed and convergent, instead of contingent, undirected and divergent as postulated in the modern evolutionary synthesis. This approach does not preclude the recognition of exceptions, due to the limitation of Intellect by Necessity – that is to say, of teleology by mechanism.Religious Studies and ArabicD.Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies

Musified Togetherness; Co-Singing in Families Living With Dementia

Dette ph.d.-prosjektet har som mål å utforske muligheter for og implikasjoner av lavterskel hverdagssang for mennesker med demens og deres nærmeste. En sentral problemstilling er hvordan mennesker med demens og deres pårørende kan bruke og oppleve sang som en integrert del av kommunikasjon og samhandling i dagliglivet, utenfor en profesjonell eller terapeutisk ramme, basert på deres egne erfaringer med sang gjennom livsløpet. Prosjektets primære empiriske materiale består av en undersøkende forsknings-intraaksjon inspirert av deltakende aksjonsforskning. Deltakerne var en eldre kvinne med demens og hennes voksne datter. Sammen utforsket vi enkle sangaktiviteter som de kunne integrere i dagliglivet, basert på deres preferanser, interesser og tidligere erfaringer med sang. Teoretisk bygger prosjektet på Karen Barads agensiale realisme samt teorier knyttet til affirmativ filosofi, nevropsykologi og nevrofysiologi. Forskningsspørsmålene dreier seg om (1) ulike aspekter ved relasjonell sang som praksis og erfaring, (2) sangens underliggende prosesser og mekanismer, og (3) begrepsmessige og diskursive implikasjoner. Forskningsprosessen har dermed undersøkt ulike aspekter av sang (i familier som lever med demens) som en materielldiskursiv praksis (Barad, 2007). Gjennom teoretisk og empirisk utforskning og diffraksjon introduserer jeg flere perspektiver på hva hverdagssang i familier som lever med demens kan være. Avhandlingen bidrar til ny kunnskap ved å utforske og veve sammen eksisterende forskning, ulike teorier og diskurser, forskningsintraaksjonen og autoetnografisk materiale. Slik belyser den affirmative og relasjonelle sider ved hverdagssang for mennesker med demens og deres nærmeste. Videre foreslår avhandlingen «samsang» og ulike former for «musisk samvær» som passende begreper og konsepter –og eksempler på hverdagspraksiser – for å formidle implikasjonene av en slik tilnærming til sang og demens. Disse begrepene fremhever sang som en relasjonell aktivitet – en form for samvær og samhørighet. Gjennom utforskning med diffraktiv analyse i flere lag gir avhandlingen dessuten et metodologisk bidrag til performativ og post-kvalitativ forskning.publishedVersio

Context Aware Computing or the Sense of Context

ITALIANO: I sistemi ubiquitous e pervasivi, speciali categorie di sistemi embedded (immersi), possono essere utilizzati per rilevare il contesto che li circonda. In particolare, i sistemi context-aware sono in grado di alterare il loro stato interno e il loro comportamento in base all’ambiente (context) che percepiscono. Per aiutare le persone nell’espletare le proprie attivitá, tali sistemi possono utilizzare le conoscenze raccolte attorno a loro. Un grande sforzo industriale e di ricerca, orientato all’innovazione dei sensori, processori, sistemi operativi, protocolli di comunicazione, e framework, offre molte tecnologie definibili abilitanti, come le reti di sensori wireless o gli Smartphone. Tuttavia, nonostante tale sforzo significativo, l’adozione di sistemi pervasivi che permettano di migliorare il monitoraggio dello sport, l’allenamento e le tecnologie assistive é ancora piuttosto limitato. Questa tesi individua due fattori determinanti per questo basso utilizzo delle tecnologie pervasive, principalmente relativi agli utenti. Da un lato il tentativo degli esperti e dei ricercatori dell’informatica di indurre l’adozione di soluzioni informatiche, trascurando parzialmente l’interazione con gli utenti finali, dall’altro lato una scarsa attenzione all’interazione tra uomo e computer. Il primo fattore puó essere tradotto nella mancanza di attenzione a ció che é rilevante nel contesto dei bisogni (speciali) dell’utente. Il secondo é rappresentato dall’utilizzo diffuso di interfacce grafiche di presentazione delle informazioni, che richiede un elevato livello di sforzo cognitivo da parte degli utenti. Mentre lo studio della letteratura puó fornire conoscenze sul contesto dell’utente, solo il contatto diretto con lui arricchisce la conoscenza di consapevolezza, fornendo una precisa identificazione dei fattori che sono piú rilevanti per il destinatario dell’applicazione. Per applicare con successo le tecnologie pervasive al campo dello sport e delle tecnologie assistive, l’identificazione dei fattori rilevanti é una premessa necessaria, Tale processo di identificazione rappresenta l’approccio metodologico principale utilizzato per questa tesi. Nella tesi si analizzano diversi sport (canottaggio, nuoto, corsa ) e una disabilitá (la cecitá), per mostrare come la metodologia di investigazione e di progettazione proposta venga messa in pratica. Infatti i fattori rilevanti sono stati identificati grazie alla stretta collaborazione con gli utenti e gli esperti nei rispettivi campi. Si descrive il processo di identificazione, insieme alle soluzioni elaborate su misura per il particolare campo d’uso. L’uso della sonificazione, cioé la trasmissione di informazioni attraverso il suono, si propone di affrontare il secondo problema presentato, riguardante le interfacce utente. L’uso della sonificazione puó facilitare la fruizione in tempo reale delle informazioni sulle prestazioni di attivitá sportive, e puó contribuire ad alleviare parzialmente la disabilitá degli utenti non vedenti. Nel canottaggio, si é identificato nel livello di sincronia del team uno dei fattori rilevanti per una propulsione efficace dell’imbarcazione. Il problema di rilevare il livello di sincronia viene analizzato mediante una rete di accelerometri wireless, proponendo due diverse soluzioni. La prima soluzione é basata sull’indice di correlazione di Pearson e la seconda su un approccio emergente chiamato stigmergia. Entrambi gli approcci sono stati testati con successo in laboratorio e sul campo. Inoltre sono state sviluppate due applicazioni, per smartphone e PC, per fornire la telemetria e la sonificazione del moto di una barca a remi. Nel campo del nuoto é stata condotta una ricerca in letteratura riguardo la convinzione diffusa di considerare la cinematica come il fattore rilevante della propulsione efficace dei nuotatori. Questa indagine ha richiamato l’attenzione sull’importanza di studiare il cosiddetto feel-for-water (sensazione-dell’-acqua) percepito dai nuotatori d’alto livello. É stato progettato un innovativo sistema, per rilevare e comunicare gli effetti fluidodinamici causati dallo spostamento delle masse d’acqua intorno alle mani dei nuotatori. Il sistema é in grado di trasformare la pressione dell’acqua, misurata con sonde Piezo intorno alle mani, in un bio-feedback auditivo, pensato per i nuotatori e gli allenatori, come base per un nuovo modo di comunicare la sensazione-dell’acqua. Il sistema é stato testato con successo nel campo e ha dimostrato di fornire informazioni in tempo reale per il nuotatore e il formatore. Nello sport della corsa sono stati individuati due parametri rilevanti: il tempo di volo e di contatto dei piedi. É stato progettato un sistema innovativo per ottenere questi parametri attraverso un unico accelerometro montato sul tronco del corridore ed é stato implementato su uno smartphone. Per ottenere il risultato voluto é stato necessario progettare e realizzare un sistema per riallineare virtualmente gli assi dell’accelerometro e per estrarre il tempo di volo e di contatto dal segnale dell’accelerometro riallineato. L’applicazione per smartphone completa é stata testata con successo sul campo, confrontando i valori con quelli di attrezzature specializzate, dimostrando la sua idoneitá come ausilio pervasivo all’allenamento di corridori. Per esplorare le possibilitá della sonificazione usata come una base per tecnologia assistiva, abbiamo iniziato una collaborazione con un gruppo di ricerca presso l’Universitá di Scienze Applicate, Ginevra, in Svizzera. Tale collaborazione si é concentrata su un progetto chiamato SeeColOr (See Color with an Orchestra - vedere i colori con un’orchestra). In particolare, abbiamo avuto l’opportunitá di implementare il sistema SeeColOr su smartphone, al fine di consentire agli utenti non vedenti di utilizzare tale tecnologia su dispositivi leggeri e a basso costo. Inoltre, la tesi esplora alcune questioni relative al campo del rilevamento ambientale in ambienti estremi, come i ghiacciai, utilizzando la tecnologia delle Wireless Sensor Networks. Considerando che la tecnologia é simile a quella usata in altri contesti presentati, le considerazioni possono facilmente essere riutilizzate. Si sottolinea infatti che i problemi principali sono legati alla elevata difficoltá e scarsa affidabilitá di questa tecnologia innovativa rispetto alle altre soluzioni disponibili in commercio , definite legacy, basate solitamente su dispositivi piú grandi e costosi, chiamati datalogger. La tesi presenta i problemi esposti e le soluzioni proposte per mostrare l’applicazione dell’approccio progettuale cercato e definito durante lo sviluppo delle attività sperimentali e la ricerca che le ha implementate. ---------------------------------------- ENGLISH: Ubiquitous and pervasive systems, special categories of embedded systems, can be used to sense the context in their surrounding. In particular, context-aware systems are able to alter their internal state and their behaviour based on the context they perceive. To help people in better performing their activities, such systems must use the knowledge gathered about the context. A big research and industrial effort, geared towards the innovation of sensors, processors, operating systems, communication protocols, and frameworks, provides many "enabling" technologies, such as Wireless Sensor Networks or Smartphones. However, despite that significant effort, the adoption of pervasive systems to enhance sports monitoring, training and assistive technologies is still rather small. This thesis identifies two main issues concerning this low usage of pervasive technologies, both mainly related to users. On one side the attempt of computer science experts and researchers to induce the adoption of information technology based solutions, partially neglecting interaction with end users; on the other side a scarce attention to the interaction between humans and computers. The first can be translated into the lack of attention at what is relevant in the context of the user’s (special) needs. The second is represented by the widespread usage of graphical user interfaces to present information, requiring a high level of cognitive effort. While literature studies can provide knowledge about the user’s context, only direct contact with users enriches knowledge with awareness, providing a precise identification of the factors that are more relevant to the user. To successfully apply pervasive technologies to the field of sports engineering and assistive technology, the identification of relevant factors is an obliged premise, and represents the main methodological approach used throughout this thesis. This thesis analyses different sports (rowing, swimming, running) and a disability (blindness), to show how the proposed design methodology is put in practice. Relevant factors were identified thanks to the tight collaboration with users and experts in the respective fields. The process of identification is described, together with the proposed application tailored for the special field. The use of sonification, i.e. conveying information as sound, is proposed to leverage the second presented issue, that regards the user interfaces. The usage of sonification can ease the exploitation of information about performance in real-time for sport activities and can help to partially leverage the disability of blind users. In rowing, the synchrony level of the team was identified as one of the relevant factors for effective propulsion. The problem of detecting the synchrony level is analysed by means of a network of wireless accelerometers, proposing two different solutions. The first solution is based on Pearson’s correlation index and the second on an emergent approach called stigmergy. Both approaches were successfully tested in laboratory and in the field. Moreover two applications, for smartphones and PCs, were developed to provide telemetry and sonification of a rowing boat’s motion. In the field of swimming, an investigation about the widespread belief considering kinematics as the relevant factor of effective propulsion of swimmers drew attention to the importance of studying the so called "feel-for-water" experienced by elite swimmers. An innovative system was designed to sense and communicate fluid-dynamic effects caused by moving water masses around swimmers hands. The system is able to transform water pressure, measured with Piezo-probes, around hands into an auditive biofeedback, to be used by swimmers and trainers, as the base for a new way of communication about the "feel-for-water". The system was successfully tested in the field and proved to provide real-time information for the swimmer and the trainer. In running sports two relevant parameters are time of flight and contact of feet. An innovative system was designed to obtain these parameters using a single trunk mounted accelerometer and was implemented on a smartphone. To achieve the intended result it was necessary to design and implement a system to virtually realign the axes of the accelerometer and to extract time of flight and time of contact phases from the realigned accelerometer signal. The complete smartphone application was successfully tested in the field with specialized equipment, proving its suitability in enhancing training of runners with a pervasive system. To explore possibilities of sonification applied as an assistive technology, we started a collaboration with research group from University of Applied Science, Geneva, Switzerland, focused on a project called SeeColOr (See Color with an Orchestra). In particular we had the opportunity to implement the SeeColOr system on smartphones, in order to enable blind users to use that technology on low cost and lightweight devices. Moreover, the thesis exposes some issues related to a field, environmental sensing in extreme environments, like glaciers, using the innovative Wireless Sensor Networks technology. Considering that the technology is similar to the one used in other presented contexts, learned lessons can easily be reused. It is emphasized that the main problems are related to the high difficulty and low reliability of that innovative technology with respect to other "legacy" commercially available solutions, based on expensive and bigger devices, called dataloggers. The thesis presents the exposed problems and proposed solutions to show the application of the design approach strived during the development and research