Safety of medical devices and of their interoperation is an unresolved issue
causing severe and sometimes deadly accidents for patients with shocking
frequency. Formal methods, particularly in support of highly reusable and
provably safe patterns which can be instantiated to many device instances can
help in this regard. However, this still leaves open the issue of how to pass
from their formal specifications in logical time to executable emulations that
can interoperate in physical time with other devices and with simulations of
patient and/or doctor behaviors. This work presents a specification-based
methodology in which virtual emulation environments can be easily developed
from formal specifications in Real-Time Maude, and can support interactions
with other real devices and with simulation models. This general methodology is
explained in detail and is illustrated with two concrete scenarios which are
both instances of a common safe formal pattern: one scenario involves the
interaction of a provably safe pacemaker with a simulated heart; the other
involves the interaction of a safe controller for patient-induced analgesia
with a real syringe pump.Comment: In Proceedings RTRTS 2010, arXiv:1009.398
