Ernst Kesseler

Towards human-centred design: Two case studies

Currently much system development is done using a technology-centred approach: automating the functions the technology is able to perform. Human-centred design including a cognitive work analysis seems a promising alternative for systems combining skilled humans and automated support. Carefully selected information technology can support this innovative system development approach. Two correlated case studies assess the merits and limitations of a human-centred approach. To improve human capacity while maintaining or preferably increasing current safety levels automated support is needed. Despite the long-term trend of increasing automated support, the human remains the major contributing factor in accidents and incidents. Combining these two observations substantiates the need for innovative system design. The described results are relevant for other domains relying on human experts supported by complex automated systems.

Assessing COTS software in a certifiable safety-critical domain

Abstract.  Commercial off‐the‐shelf (COTS) software solutions have become commonplace in many domains, including the military, because they can provide standardized functionality with more responsiveness, a shorter time‐to‐market and at lower costs than custom‐made solutions. In one domain, however, that of certifiable safety‐critical applications, COTS software has not been adopted. One particular type of certifiable safety‐critical domain, the civil air transport industry, is under pressure to reduce cost and time‐to‐market while simultaneously increasing safety. Therefore, the use of COTS software, rather than exclusive reliance on custom‐made software, would appear to be a solution worthy of investigation. This study examines the certifiability of COTS software, its technical feasibility in this environment, and the ability to achieve the expected responsiveness, time‐to‐market and cost benefits. A detailed evaluation of COTS software and domain‐specific certification requirements is used to demonstrate that the certification of COTS‐based systems is possible. A prototype COTS‐based system (built upon a number of COTS components) is created to illustrate the technical feasibility of such a system in the civil air transport domain. Expected benefits from COTS solutions are evaluated both by examining process artefacts from the development of the COTS‐based system and by comparing this development process with the domains traditional custom‐development process.

Refinement and Verification Applied to an In-Flight Data Acquisition Unit

In order to optimise maintenance and increase safety, the Royal Netherlands Navy initiated the development of a multi-channel on-board data acquisition system for its Lynx helicopters. This AIDA (Automatic In-flight Data Acquisition) system records usage and loads data on main rotor, engines and airframe. We used refinement in combination with model checking to arrive at a formally verified prototype implementation of the AIDA system, starting from the functional requirements.

Deploying networked real-time simulation, putting the virtual enterprise to work some aerospace experience

STEAI02Aerospace products are typically high-tech, high quality and low volume. They are produced by specialised geographically dispersed companies. The production is dominated by a large amount of engineering. In the engineering phase each company makes extensive use of real-time simulation for its own (sub) systems. At the same time the aerospace industry is becoming more competitive. This way of working combined with the business realities provides an opportunity to deploy the virtual enterprise concept in the aerospace domain. This paper focuses on the virtual enterprise as realised by networking existing real-time simulators. Major applications of networked real-time simulation are training, mission planning and networked R&D. Each of these applications will be illustrated with an example from a different domain. Networked simulations require exercise management for which this paper presents a re-usable implementation based on international standards. Our experience, consolidated in the SmartFED tool, shows that the virtual enterprise concept as embodied in networked simulation provides benefits like increased quality and reduced time-to-market of a product.