Architecture for an autonomous reconfigurable intelligent control system (ARICS)

In this paper, we first discuss the various algebraic approaches to exception handling specification. We show that none of them is completely satisfactory, and we explain why the algebraic specification of exception handling (error introduction, error propagation and error recovery) must not be made using only equations, but also "declarations". We present an approach allowing all forms of error handling, and at the same time keeping specifications well-structured and easily understandable.KeywordsOperational SemanticError MessageError RecoveryException HandlingGround TermThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Exception handling in a complex concurrent and distributed system (e.g. one involving cooperating rather than just competing activities) is often a necessary, but a very difficult, task. No widely accepted models or approaches exist in this area. The object-oriented paradigm, for all its structuring benefits, and real-time requirements each add further difficulties to the design and implementation of exception handling in such systems. In this paper, we develop a general structuring framework based on the coordinated atomic (CA) action concept for handling exceptions in an object-oriented distributed system, in which exceptions in both the value and the time domain are taken into account. In particular, we attempt to attack several difficult problems related to real-time system design and error recovery, including action-level timing constraints, time-triggered CA actions, and time-dependent exception handling. The proposed framework is then demonstrated and assessed using an industrial real-time application-the Production Cell III case study.

In freeway merging areas, vehicles exhibit flexibility in lane-changing manoeuvres to facilitate merging. However, the lack of effective communication among vehicles leads to inadequate coordination between mainline and ramp vehicles at the merge point, increasing the likelihood of traffic congestion. The technology of connected and autonomous vehicles allows information interaction and cooperation between vehicles, which can effectively solve this problem and improve the efficiency of vehicle merging. This study proposes a merging optimisation framework for connected and autonomous vehicles, dividing the merging area into cooperative lane-change and trajectory optimisation areas. To simulate and manage connected and autonomous vehicles’ behaviour, the research employs VISSIM for scenario creation and leverages both VISSIM COM and Python for control purposes. In the cooperative lane-changing area, the optimal number of lane-changing vehicles is determined by considering traffic distribution in the inner and outer lanes downstream of the confluence area. Subsequently, the sequence and combination of these vehicles are established based on connected and autonomous vehicles’ cooperative lane-changing mode analysis. Within the trajectory optimisation area, the model refines each vehicle’s speed and acceleration, guiding connected and autonomous vehicles to merge smoothly and safely at the confluence point. The simulation results show that the optimisation framework for the freeway merging area proposed in this study performs well. As the level of demand increases, the scenario with control demonstrates superior performance in terms of enhanced trip efficiency, diminished total delay time and a reduction in the number of stops.

Enterprise network architecture and management have followed the Internet's design principles despite different requirements and characteristics: enterprise hosts are administered by a single authority, which intrinsically assigns different values to traffic from different business applications.We advocate a new approach where hosts are no longer relegated to the network's periphery, but actively participate in network-related decisions. To enable host participation, network information, such as dynamic network topology and per-link characteristics and costs, is exposed to the hosts, and network administrators specify conditions on the propagated network information that trigger actions to be performed while a condition holds. The combination of a condition and its actions embodies the concept of the network exception handler, defined analogous to a program exception handler. Conceptually, network exception handlers execute on hosts with actions parameterized by network and host state.Network exception handlers allow hosts to participate in network management, traffic engineering and other operational decisions by explicitly controlling host traffic under predefined conditions. This flexibility improves overall performance by allowing efficient use of network resources. We outline several sample network exception handlers, present an architecture to support them, and evaluate them using data collected from our own enterprise network.

A model based on a Petri net (PN) is proposed for controlling flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). The model can describe not only normal sequential processes but also interruptive exceptional handling processes by means of simple structures. A layered structure and two types of token are introduced into a PN to describe exception handling and error recovery. An application in which this model was used to program a programmable logic controller (PLC) is described. The description of cell control can be simplified by the model. >

Improving the safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs) by making driving decisions in accordance with traffic rules is a complex task. Traffic rules are often expressed in a way that allows for interpretation and exceptions, making it difficult for AVs to follow them. This paper proposes a novel methodology for driving decision making in AVs based on defeasible deontic logic (DDL). We use DDL to formalize traffic rules and facilitate automated reasoning, allowing for the effective handling of rule exceptions and the resolution of vague terms in rules. To supplement the information provided by traffic rules, we incorporate an ontology for AV driving behaviour and environment information. By applying automated reasoning to formalized traffic rules and ontology-based AV driving information, our methodology enables AVs to make driving decisions in accordance with traffic rules. We present a case study focussing on the overtaking traffic rule to illustrate the usefulness of our methodology. Our evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed driving decision-making methodology, highlighting its potential to improve the safety of AVs on the road.

Reduced value of time for autonomous vehicle users: Myth or reality?

Mobile agent systems often require sophisticated cooperation and coordination during error detection and recovery. In this paper we propose novel fault tolerance mechanisms that support co-operative exception handling in such systems. The paper demonstrates how mechanisms like these can be formally developed and analysed. We start with identifying the typical modes of failures in agents and analysing possible failure and recovery scenarios in mobile systems. Stepwise refinement is used as our formal framework for top-down development and verification. Using the framework we formally verify the essential model properties, such as interoperability, local and global state consistency and termination of error recovery. Our approach provides developers with formal generic patterns for incorporating fault-tolerance mechanisms into mobile agent systems. We also demonstrate how the results of our formal development can be instantiated and reused in developing real-world agent software.

PurposeThe practical demonstrations and research which led to the preparation of this paper involved a combination of stakeholder engagement, policy debate and the practical demonstration and testing of autonomous vehicles. By adhering to a design approach which in centred on participation and human-centred engagement, the advent of autonomous vehicles might avoid many of the problems encountered in relation to conventional transport.Design/methodology/approachThe research explored how a new and potentially disruptive technology might be incorporated in urban settings, through the lens of participation and problem-based design. The research critically reviews key strands in the literature (autonomous vehicles, social research and participatory design), with allusion to current case study experiments.FindingsAlthough there are numerous examples of autonomous vehicles (AV) research concentrating on technical aspects alone, this paper finds that such an approach appears to be an unusual starting point for the design of innovative technology. That is, AVs would appear to hold the potential to be genuinely disruptive in terms of innovation, yet the way that disruption takes place should surely be guided by design principles and by issues and problems encountered by potential users.Practical implicationsThe research carries significant implications for practice in that it advocates locating those socio-contextual issues at the heart of the problem definition and design process and ahead of technical solutions.Originality/valueWhat sets this research apart from other studies concerning AVs was that the starting point for investigation was the framing of AVs within contexts and scenarios leading to the emergence of wicked problems. This begins with a research position where the potential uses for AVs are considered in a social context, within which the problems and issues to be solved become the starting point for design at a fundamental level.

This paper describes the architecture of the integrated modular avionics (IMA) system; summarizes the various fault management functions; and proposes an extended layered IMA system overall fault management architecture combined with fault prognosis and fault handling functions based on the European allied standard avionics architecture council (ASAAC) standards. The logic process for each level of overall fault management and the implementation method of the overall fault management of IMA system are given.

An exception-handling facility suitable for languages used to implement database-intensive information systems is presented. Such a mechanism facilitates the development and maintenance of more flexible software systems by supporting the abstraction of details concerning special or abnormal occurrences. The type constraints imposed by the schema as well as various semantic integrity assertions are considered to be normalcy conditions, and the key contribution of this work is to allow exceptions to these constraints to persist. To achieve this, solutions are proposed to a range of problems, including sharing and computing with exceptional information, exception handling by users, the logic of constraints with exceptions, and implementation issues. The use of exception handling in dealing with null values, estimates, and measurement is also illustrated.

As autonomous vehicles (AVs) become a reality on public roads, researchers and designers are beginning to see unexpected reactions from the public ranging from curiosity to vandalism. These behaviors are concerning, as AV platforms will need to know how to deal with people behaving unexpectedly or aggressively. We call this griefing of AVs, adopting the term from harassment in online gaming. We discuss several examples of griefing observed in on-road field studies using a Wizard-of-Oz driverless car. While Uber and Waymo have anecdotally mentioned vandalism towards AVs, we believe this to be the first public video available of AV griefing ranging from playful to aggressive. To stimulate discussion, we propose speculative design principles to address griefing. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms; Empirical studies in interaction design; Interface design prototyping. ACM Reference Format: Dylan Moore, Rebecca Currano, Michael Shanks, and David Sirkin. 2020. Defense Against the Dark Cars: Design Principles for griefing of Autonomous Vehicles. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI ’20), March 23–26, 2020, Cambridge, United Kingdom. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 9 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3319502.3374796

Component-based software systems built out of reusable software components are being used in a wide range of applications which have high dependability requirements. In order to accomplish the required levels of dependability, it is necessary to incorporate into these complex systems means for to cope with software faults. Exception handling is a well-known technique for adding forward error recovery to software systems supported by various mainstream programming languages. However, exception handling for component-based applications at the architectural level introduces new challenges which are not addressed by traditional exception handling systems, such as unavailability of source code, specially when off-the-shelf components are employed. In this paper, we present an exception handling system which adds fault tolerance to component-based systems at the architectural level. Our solution considers issues which are specific to component-based applications, such as unavailability of source code. We also present a framework which implements the proposed exception handling system for applications built using the C2 architectural style.KeywordsService RequestException HandlingArchitectural LevelDependable SoftwareClient ComponentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The advantages of avionics switched network in network scale and flexibility greatly improve the communication performance of avionics network, promote the development of IMA/DIMA technology and also increase network scale and complexity. Meanwhile, requirements for the management of the avionics system are also on the rise. In this paper, the characteristics of SNMP protocol and airborne switched network are analyzed. The IMA/DIMA system structure is outlined and key demands for system management are extracted According to an IMA system model adopting AFDX as its backbone network with cascading dual integrate processing computers for backup and interconnection, the system management functions of the IMA system are realized in line with the ARINC653 standard partition operating system based on the SNMP protocol, including structure management, fault management, configuration management, etc. specific to LRM/LRU and attached devices under the IMA/DIMA system as well as the dual-machine hot backup function, which can be applied in an IMA/DIMA system consisted of AFDX/FC/TTE and several other airborne switched networks.

The design and implementation of the task control architecture (TCA), a general-purpose framework plus facilities for building and controlling mobile robots, are presented. TCA is designed to support capabilities needed by many autonomous mobile robot systems, including concurrent planning, execution, and perception; reacting to changes in the environment; error recovery; and handling multiple tasks. The facilities that TCA provides for implementing these capabilities, including distributed processing, explicit representation and manipulation of hierarchical plans, concurrent monitoring of selected conditions, and context-dependent exception handling, are described, along with a mobile manipulator that uses the architecture to operate with multiple goals in a dynamic and uncertain environment. TCA has been implemented and is used to run several mobile robot testbeds. >