AJA method and AJA Canvas as a Design Tool for marine Autonomous Operations with a test case scenario: the detection, inspection and tracking of a waste-water plume

Autonomous marine operations are difficult to plan, design and perform. Additionally, the complexity of these operations is increasing as they often include more than one vehicle. The AJA (Autonomous Job Analysis) method is a structured approach to gathering the necessary information from experts in order to plan and design an autonomous marine operation and document these facts to make the scope of the operation understood by all stakeholders. This paper presents additional methods that enhance AJA. First, the AJA canvas: a visual tool for organising the information obtained by AJA in a concise way. Secondly, a structured format for writing measurable requirements extracted from the AJA process to help in the design of the operation. Lastly, the tools are demonstrated on a test case scenario where several vehicles will collaborate in order to detect and map a plume of contaminated water from a wastewater facility outlet.publishedVersio

Using online worst-case execution time analysis and alternative tasks in real time systems

As embedded hardware becomes more powerful, it allows for more complex realtime systems running tasks with highly dynamic execution times. This dynamicitymakes the already formidable task of producing accurate WCET analysis evenmore di?cult. Since the variation in execution time depends on task input andthe state of the system, it is postulated that a more accurate estimate for theWCET can be found online with knowledge about the task parameters.This thesis will explore the concept of online execution time analysis and itspotential utilization. Line detection in images through Hough line transform isfound to be a relevant application whose execution time can be estimated bythe contrast of the input image. A system for scheduling tasks utilizing theironline WCET estimate is then discussed. It dynamically checks for potentialdeadline misses and degrades tasks, either by running a more e?cient alternativetask instead or by aborting the task, until timely execution is guaranteed. Anexperiment is presented, demonstrating a higher throughput of tasks with onlineWCET estimation. Finally, the work on a framework for more precise simulationsand experiments is presented

Information Security Aspects of Industrial Control Systems: An Introduction for ICS Integrators and Asset Owners, V1.0

With a more connected world, where someone can attack digital industries in distant countries with low risk and cost, cyber security is becoming increasingly important on a nation-wide level. Several recent attacks illustrate this, for example towards the power grid in Ukraine in 2016, the petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia in 2017, the attack towards a cloud service provider to the train system in Denmark in 2022, and others. These attacks can, if successful, harm important industry and infrastructure such as hospitals, transportation, and industrial manufacturing. While traditional Industrial Control Systems (ICS) have been mostly isolated, they are increasingly getting connected to the internet, increasing the risks of cyberattacks. This document intends to look at the state of the art within ICS security and serve as an introduction to ICS security forICS developers and asset owners, helping them make better choicesin their security. In addition, this document serves as background information for an ICS Guidance document, which aims to provide an easy-to-use security checklist for ICS developers and asset owners. This document is a deliverable for the project Ragnarok at SINTEF, and relates to the Security for Industrial Control Systems (a guiding document) document and the IoT checklist document, also a deliverable in this project. In the Ragnarok project we looked at the state of the art in ICS and IoT security, as well as in the future context of Industry 4.0 and the potential collapse of the SCADA pyramid.publishedVersio

Industrial Control Systems Security Checklist: A Guiding Document for Developing Secure Industrial Control Systems, V1.0

With a more connected world, where someone can attack digital industries in distant countries with low risk and cost, cyber security is becoming increasingly important on a nation-wide level. Several recent attacks illustrate this, for example towards the power grid in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016, a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia in 2017, the attack towards a cloud service provider to the train system in Denmark in 2022, and others. These attacks can, if successful, harm important industry and infrastructure such as hospitals, transportation, and industrial manufacturing. While traditional Industrial Control Systems (ICS) have been mostly isolated, they are increasingly getting connected to the internet, increasing the risks of cyberattacks. This guidance document intends to contribute to securing ICS and reduce the probability of successful cyberattacks and limit consequences affecting health, environment, and the economy. This guidance document is a deliverable from the project Ragnarok at SINTEF, and complements the Security Aspects of Industrial Control Systems document and the IoT checklist document, also a deliverable in this project. In this project we looked at both ICS and IoT security, both at the state of the art and within the context of industry 4.0 and the potential collapse of the SCADA pyramid.publishedVersio

Information Inconsistencies in Smart Distribution Grids under Different Failure Causes modelled by Stochastic Activity Networks

The ongoing digitalization of the power distribution grid will improve the operational support and automation which is believed to increase the system reliability. However, in an integrated and interdependent cyber-physical system, new threats appear which must be understood and dealt with. Of particular concern, in this paper, is the causes of an inconsistent view between the physical system (here power grid) and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system (here Distribution Management System). In this paper we align the taxonomy used in International Electrotechnical Commission (power eng.) and International Federation for Information Processing (ICT community), define a metric for inconsistencies, and present a modelling approach using Stochastic Activity Networks to assess the consequences of inconsistencies. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated in a simple use case

COROB-X: DEMONSTRATION OF A COOPERATIVE ROBOT TEAM IN EXTENSIVE FIELD TESTS

International audienceThe EU-funded project CoRob-X showcased how hardto-reach areas on planetary surfaces, such as lava tubes on the moon and mining tunnels on Earth, can be explored with teams of cooperating autonomous robots. Building on technologies funded by the European Commission in a series of R&D projects under the Horizon 2020 Space Strategic Research Cluster, a Lunar Analogue Mission on Lanzarote demonstrated the exploration of a lava tube with a collaborative team of three autonomous rovers. In another field test, the inspection of a mine shaft after an explosion with a rover and a drone was shown. This paper summarizes the objectives and results of the field tests conducted in early 2023 on the Canary Islands and on the Spanish Peninsula

COROB-X: DEMONSTRATION OF A COOPERATIVE ROBOT TEAM IN EXTENSIVE FIELD TESTS

International audienceThe EU-funded project CoRob-X showcased how hardto-reach areas on planetary surfaces, such as lava tubes on the moon and mining tunnels on Earth, can be explored with teams of cooperating autonomous robots. Building on technologies funded by the European Commission in a series of R&D projects under the Horizon 2020 Space Strategic Research Cluster, a Lunar Analogue Mission on Lanzarote demonstrated the exploration of a lava tube with a collaborative team of three autonomous rovers. In another field test, the inspection of a mine shaft after an explosion with a rover and a drone was shown. This paper summarizes the objectives and results of the field tests conducted in early 2023 on the Canary Islands and on the Spanish Peninsula