Student: Michael Jacks, Jr., Undergraduate Student in Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University
Research Mentor: Dr. Kristin Rozier
Real-Time Runtime Verification With Small Aerospace Systems
I currently work underneath Zachary Luppen (A new Electrical Engineer at SpaceX) and Dr. Kristin Yvonne Rozier at Iowa State University. We have recently been conducting research on using R2U2 to catch radiation-related faults using the GRIFEX cube satellite as a basis. GRIFEX was developed and launched by the Michigan Institute underneath Dr. Cutler in 2015 and has suffered long-term degradation due to radiation-induced faults. R2U2 is the Realizable, Responsive, Unobtrusive Unit, or R2U2. It is a runtime verification program that uses temporal logic and formal methods to find and catch bad data and faulty instruments. We have recently written 2 manuscripts about our research and submitted them to the NASA formal methods conference for review. The focus of the second manuscript had the same premise only we focused on running R2U2 onboard small aerospace systems. Research moving forward is to install R2U2 onboard a Raspberry Pi and hook up various instruments to it. We plan to have R2U2 running and attempt to feed the Pi bad data and radiation-induced faults through various means. The ultimate goal for this is to get R2U2 to catch these errors in real-time rather than after the fact. This would be a proof of concept for real-time usage within small systems. Most runtime verification programs are much too processor-heavy to be used within small systems. We aim to prove R2U2 can work in such enviroments. As one might know, the CubeSat industry is rather low budget and has a small time frame. Mistakes and cheap faulty equipment are a much more common sight than the precise time tested machinery that is installed on any given NASA mission. Instruments are known to either fail or produce a bad or false reading which is what we hope to remedy with the easy use of R2U2. So far the research looks promising and I hope to continue with the research.