Development of a flight software testing methodology

The research to develop a testing methodology for flight software is described. An experiment was conducted in using assertions to dynamically test digital flight control software. The experiment showed that 87% of typical errors introduced into the program would be detected by assertions. Detailed analysis of the test data showed that the number of assertions needed to detect those errors could be reduced to a minimal set. The analysis also revealed that the most effective assertions tested program parameters that provided greater indirect (collateral) testing of other parameters. In addition, a prototype watchdog task system was built to evaluate the effectiveness of executing assertions in parallel by using the multitasking features of Ada

Optical Surface Vortices and Their Use in Nanoscale Manipulation

Following a brief overview of the physics underlying the interaction of twisted light with atoms at near-resonance frequencies, the essential ingredients of the interaction of atoms with surface optical vortices are described. It is shown that surface optical vortices can offer an unprecedented potential for the nanoscale manipulation of absorbed atoms congregating at regions of extremum light intensity on the surface

Self-Duality for the Two-Component Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process

We study a two-component asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) that is equivalent to the ASEP with second-class particles. We prove self-duality with respect to a family of duality functions which are shown to arise from the reversible measures of the process and the symmetry of the generator under the quantum algebra $U_q[\mathfrak{gl}_3]$. We construct all invariant measures in explicit form and discuss some of their properties. We also prove a sum rule for the duality functions.Comment: 27 page

Surface optical vortices

It is shown how the total internal reflection of orbital-angular-momentum-endowed light can lead to the generation of evanescent light possessing rotational properties in which the intensity distribution is firmly localized in the vicinity of the surface. The characteristics of these surface optical vortices depend on the form of the incident light and on the dielectric mismatch of the two media. The interference of surface optical vortices is shown to give rise to interesting phenomena, including pattern rotation akin to a surface optical Ferris wheel. Applications are envisaged to be in atom lithography, optical surface tweezers, and spanners

A methodology for testing fault-tolerant software

A methodology for testing fault tolerant software is presented. There are problems associated with testing fault tolerant software because many errors are masked or corrected by voters, limiter, or automatic channel synchronization. This methodology illustrates how the same strategies used for testing fault tolerant hardware can be applied to testing fault tolerant software. For example, one strategy used in testing fault tolerant hardware is to disable the redundancy during testing. A similar testing strategy is proposed for software, namely, to move the major emphasis on testing earlier in the development cycle (before the redundancy is in place) thus reducing the possibility that undetected errors will be masked when limiters and voters are added

Executable assertions and flight software

Executable assertions are used to test flight control software. The techniques used for testing flight software; however, are different from the techniques used to test other kinds of software. This is because of the redundant nature of flight software. An experimental setup for testing flight software using executable assertions is described. Techniques for writing and using executable assertions to test flight software are presented. The error detection capability of assertions is studied and many examples of assertions are given. The issues of placement and complexity of assertions and the language features to support efficient use of assertions are discussed

Dynamic assertion testing of flight control software

Digital Flight Control System (DFCS) software was used as a test case for assertion testing. The assertions were written and embedded in the code, then errors were inserted (seeded) one at a time and the code executed. Results indicate that assertion testing is an effective and efficient method of detecting errors in flight software. Most errors are eliminate at an earlier stage in the development than before

Dynamic assertion testing of flight control software

An experiment in using assertions to dynamically test fault tolerant flight software is described. The experiment showed that 87% of typical errors introduced into the program would be detected by assertions. Detailed analysis of the test data showed that the number of assertions needed to detect those errors could be reduced to a minimal set. The analysis also revealed that the most effective assertions tested program parameters that provided greater indirect (collateral) testing of other parameters

Dynamics of Macroscopic Wave Packet Passing through Double Slits: Role of Gravity and Nonlinearity

Using the nonlinear Schroedinger equation (Gross-Pitaevskii equation), the dynamics of a macroscopic wave packet for Bose-Einstein condensates falling through double slits is analyzed. This problem is identified with a search for the fate of a soliton showing a head-on collision with a hard-walled obstacle of finite size. We explore the splitting of the wave packet and its reorganization to form an interference pattern. Particular attention is paid to the role of gravity (g) and repulsive nonlinearity (u_0) in the fringe pattern. The peak-to-peak distance in the fringe pattern and the number of interference peaks are found to be proportional to g^(-1/2) and u_0^(1/2)g^(1/4), respectively. We suggest a way of designing an experiment under controlled gravity and nonlinearity.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures and 1 tabl

The Watchdog Task: Concurrent error detection using assertions

The Watchdog Task, a software abstraction of the Watchdog-processor, is shown to be a powerful error detection tool with a great deal of flexibility and the advantages of watchdog techniques. A Watchdog Task system in Ada is presented; issues of recovery, latency, efficiency (communication) and preprocessing are discussed. Different applications, one of which is error detection on a single processor, are examined