Researchers have proposed numerous
approaches for specifying, constructing, and
certifying high assurance systems. These include
formal specification notations, formal models, and
rigorous verification and validation techniques.
But, two difficult problems remain. The first is the
need for technology to support the application of
these new methods to practical systems. Without
such technology, opportunities to transfer basic
research results to practice are severely limited.
Also needed is a unified framework for building
systems that satisfy multiple critical properties.
This need exists because not one but several
different approaches for developing high assurance
systems have evolved, each with a different
philosophy of system development and different
techniques for specification and assurance.
In high assurance avionics systems, such as