A Survey on an Emerging Safety Challenge for Autonomous Vehicles:Safety of the Intended Functionality

As the complexity of autonomous vehicles(AVs)continues to increase and artificial intelligence algorithms are becoming increasingly ubiquitous,a novel safety concern known as the safety of the intended functionality(SOTIF)has emerged,presenting significant challenges to the widespread deployment of AVs.SOTIF focuses on issues arising from the functional insufficiencies of the AVs’intended functionality or its implementation,apart from conventional safety considerations.From the systems engineering standpoint,this study offers a comprehensive exploration of the SOTIF landscape by reviewing academic research,practical activities,challenges,and perspectives across the development,verification,validation,and operation phases.Academic research encompasses system-level SOTIF studies and algorithm-related SOTIF issues and solutions.Moreover,it encapsulates practical SOTIF activities undertaken by corporations,government entities,and academic institutions spanning international and Chinese contexts,focusing on the overarching methodologies and practices in different phases.Finally,the paper presents future challenges and outlook pertaining to the development,verification,validation,and operation phases,motivating stakeholders to address the remaining obstacles and challenges.

Seasonal Prediction of Tropical Cyclones and Storms over the Southwestern Indian Ocean Region Using the Generalized Linear Models

Tropical cyclones (TCs) and storms (TSs) are among the devastating events in the world and southwestern Indian Ocean (SWIO) in particular. The seasonal forecasting TCs and TSs for December to March (DJFM) and November to May (NM) over SWIO were conducted. Dynamic parameters including vertical wind shear, mean zonal steering wind and vorticity at 850 mb were derived from NOAA (NCEP-NCAR) reanalysis 1 wind fields. Thermodynamic parameters including monthly and daily mean Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) and equatorial Standard Oscillation Index (SOI) were used. Three types of Poison regression models (i.e. dynamic, thermodynamic and combined models) were developed and validated using the Leave One Out Cross Validation (LOOCV). Moreover, 2 × 2 square matrix contingency tables for model verification were used. The results revealed that, the observed and cross validated DJFM and NM TCs and TSs strongly correlated with each other (p ≤ 0.02) for all model types, with correlations (r) ranging from 0.62 - 0.86 for TCs and 0.52 - 0.87 for TSs, indicating great association between these variables. Assessment of the model skill for all model types of DJFM and NM TCs and TSs frequency revealed high skill scores ranging from 38% - 70% for TCs and 26% - 72% for TSs frequency, respectively. Moreover, results indicated that the dynamic and combined models had higher skill scores than the thermodynamic models. The DJFM and NM selected predictors explained the TCs and TSs variability by the range of 0.45 - 0.65 and 0.37 - 0.66, respectively. However, verification analysis revealed that all models were adequate for predicting the seasonal TCs and TSs, with high bias values ranging from 0.85 - 0.94. Conclusively, the study calls for more studies in TCs and TSs frequency and strengths for enhancing the performance of the March to May (MAM) and December to October (OND) seasonal rainfalls in the East African (EA) and Tanzania in particular.

Verification and validation of detonation modeling

The mathematical model used to describe the detonation multi-physics phenomenon is usually given by highly coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. Numerical simulation and the computer aided engineering (CAE) technique has become the third pillar of detonation research, along with theory and experiment, due to the detonation phenomenon is difficult to explain by the theoretical analysis, and the cost required to accredit the reliability of detonation products is very high, even some physical experiments of detonation are impossible. The numerical simulation technique can solve these complex problems in the real situation repeatedly and reduce the design cost and time stunningly. But the reliability of numerical simulation software and the serviceability of the computational result seriously hinders the extension, application and the self-restoration of the simulation software, restricts its independently innovational ability. This article deals with the physical modeling, numerical simulation, and software development of detonation in a unified way. Verification and validation and uncertainty quantification (V&V&UQ) is an important approach in ensuring the credibility of the modeling and simulation of detonation. V&V of detonation is based on our independently developed detonation multiphysics software-LAD2D. We propose the verification method based on mathematical theory and program function as well as availability of its program execution. Validation is executed by comparing with the experiment data. At last, we propose the future prospect of numerical simulation software and the CAE technique, and we also pay attention to the research direction of V&V&UQ.

Lessons Learned from Practical Independent Verification and Validation Based on IEEE 1012

IEEE 1012 [1] describes the SDLC phase activities for software independent verification and validation (IV & V) for nuclear power plant in truly general and conceptual manner, which requires the upward and/or downward tailoring on its interpretation for practical IV & V. It contains crucial and encompassing check points and guidelines to analyze the design integrity, without addressing the formalized and the specific criteria for IV & V activities confirming the technical integrity. It is necessary to list up the inspection viewpoint via interpretation of the standard that is practical review points checking design consistency. For fruitful IV & V of Control Element Driving Mechanism Control System (CEDMCS) software for Yonggwang Nuclear Power Plant unit 3 & 4, the specific viewpoints and approach are necessary based on the guidelines of IEEE 1012 to enhance the system quality by considering the level of implementation of the theoretical and the practical IV & V. Additionally IV & V guideline of IEEE 1012 does not specifically provide the concrete measure considering the system characteristics of CEDMCS. This paper provides the seven (7) characteristic criteria for CEDMCS IV & V, and by applying these viewpoints, the design analysis such as function, performance, interface and exception, backward and forward requirement traceability analysis has been conducted. The requirement, design, implementation, and test phase were only considered for IV & V in this project. This article also provides the translation of code to map theoretical verification and validation into practical verification and validation. This paper emphasizes the necessity of the intensive design inspection and walkthrough for requirement phase to resolve the design faults because the IV & V of early phase of SDLC obviously contributes to find out most of critical design inconsistency. Especially for test phase IV & V, it is strongly recommended to prepare the test plan document which is going to be the basis for the test coverage selection and test strategy. This test plan document should be based on the critical characteristics of function and performance of CEDMCS. Also to guarantee the independency of V & V organization participating in this project, and to acquire the full package of design details for IV & V, the systematic approach and efforts with an aspect of management is highlighted among the participants.

In silico studies of magnesium-based implants: A review of the current stage and challenges

In silico methods to study biodegradable implants have recently received increasing attention due to their potential in reducing experimental time and cost. An important application case for in silico methods are magnesium(Mg)-based biodegradable implants, as they represent a powerful alternative to traditional materials used for temporary orthopaedic applications. Controlling Mg alloy degradation is critical to designing an implant that supports the bone healing process. To simulate different aspects of this biodegradation process, several mathematical models have been proposed with the ultimate aim of replacing laboratory experiments with computational modeling. In this review, we provide a comprehensive and critical discussion of the published models and their performance with respect to capturing the complexity of the biodegradation process. This complexity is presented initially. Additionally, the present review discusses the different approaches of optimizing and quantifying the different sources of errors and uncertainties within the proposed models.

Development Methodologies for Network Softwarization: A Comparison of DevOps, NetOps, and Verification

This white paper explores three popular development methodologies for network softwarization: DevOps, NetOps, and Verification. The paper compares and contrasts the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and provides recommendations for organizations looking to adopt network softwarization.

ProTSA: A Testing Process for Automotive Software Domain

This study evaluates the development of a testing process for the automotive software domain, highlighting challenges stemming from the absence of adequate processes. The research demonstrates the application of Design Science Research methodology in developing, an automotive software testing process—ProTSA, using six functional testing modules. Additionally, the study evaluates the benefits of implementing ProTSA in a specific Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) using an experimental single-case approach with industry professionals’ participation through a survey. The study concludes that combining testing techniques with effective communication and alignment is crucial for enhancing software quality. Furthermore, survey data indicates that implementing ProTSA leads to productivity gains by initiating tests early, resulting in time savings in the testing program and increased productivity for the testing team. Future work will explore implementing ProTSA in cybersecurity, over-the-air software updates, and autonomous vehicle testing processes. .

Design and Verification of FPGA-Based Applications in Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear industries have faced the unfavorable circumstance such as components obsolescence and aging of instrumentation and control system, therefore, nuclear society is striving to resolve this issue fundamentally. Various studies have been conducted to address components obsolescence of instrumentation and control system. Intuitively FPGA （field programmable gate arrays） technology is replacing the high level of micro-processor type equipped with various software and hardware which causes acceleration of the aging and obsolescence in I ＆ C （instrumentation and control） system in nuclear power plants. FPGAs are highlighted as an alternative means for obsolete control systems. When engineers design the control system of NPPs （nuclear power plants） with FPGAs, it is important to meet the system development life cycles and conduct the verification and validation activities regarding to FPGA-based applications for use in NPPs. Because the verification and validation process is more important than the design process, engineer should consider the characteristics of FPGA, HDL （hardware description language） programming, faults mode, and optimization technique. And also these characteristics should be reflected in verification and validation activities. As a minimum requirement, system designers require that HDL-programmed applications should be developed in accordance with system development life cycle and HPD design process. In the verification and validation processes, a review, test, and analysis activities should be properly conducted.

对validation,verification和qualification三个质量管理术语之理解

目的针对目前药品行业对现代质量管理中的"确认(validation)"、"验证(verification)"和"鉴定(qualification)"等几个关于"确证"术语使用的混乱状况,探讨关于"确证"术语的含义及相互区别,强调药品领域正确应用这些术语的重要性。方法从这些术语的溯源开始,探讨其定义的内涵与外延、相互之间的关系以及中英文转化的标准化问题。结果与结论从"标准或规定要求"、"研发方"与"接受方"、"做事"等多角度—而不仅从活动类型角度—才能更好地理解这三个术语间的含义、联系和区别。

Multi-agent communication-based train control system for Indian railways： the behavioural analysis

Multi-agent technology has been used in many complex distributed and concurrent systems. A railway system is such a safety critical system and careful inves- tigation of the functional components is very important. Study of the various functional components in communi- cation-based train control （CBTC） system necessitates a good structural design followed by its validation and ver- ification through a formal modelling technique. The work presented here is the follow up of our multi-agent-based CBTC system for Indian railway designed using the methodology for engineering system of software agents. Behavioural analysis of the designed system involves several operating scenarios that arise during train run, and helps in understanding the reaction of the system to such situations. This validation and verification are very important as it allows the system designer to critically evaluate the desired function of the system and to correct the design errors, if any, before its actual implementation. Modelling, validation and verification of the structural design through Coloured petri net （CPN） are central to this paper. Analysis of simulation results validates the efficacy of the design.

Low band gap frequencies and multiplexing properties in 1D and 2D mass spring structures

This study reports on the propagation of elastic waves in 1D and 2D mass spring structures.An analytical and computation model is presented for the 1D and 2D mass spring systems with different examples.An enhancement in the band gap values was obtained by modeling the structures to obtain low frequency band gaps at small dimensions.Additionally,the evolution of the band gap as a function of mass value is discussed.Special attention is devoted to the local resonance property in frequency ranges within the gaps in the band structure for the corresponding infinite periodic lattice in the 1D and 2D mass spring system.A linear defect formed of a row of specific masses produces an elastic waveguide that transmits at the narrow pass band frequency.The frequency of the waveguides can be selected by adjusting the mass and stiffness coefficients of the materials constituting the waveguide.Moreover,we pay more attention to analyze the wave multiplexer and DE-multiplexer in the 2D mass spring system.We show that two of these tunable waveguides with alternating materials can be employed to filter and separate specific frequencies from a broad band input signal.The presented simulation data is validated through comparison with the published research,and can be extended in the development of resonators and MEMS verification.

Some notes on numerical investigation of three cavitation models through a verification and validation procedure

The present paper investigates the turbulent cavitating flow around the Clark-Y hydrofoil with special emphasis on the influence of cavitation models by verification and validation(V&V)method.RANS solver coupled with the three major cavitation models(i.e.,Zwart-Gerber-Belamri,Schnerr and Sauer and full cavitation model,which are abbreviated to ZGB model,SS model and FC model respectively)is employed in this paper.The results indicate that the three cavitation models can properly reproduce the cavitation evolutions.ZGB model and SS model give better prediction in the overall cavitation patterns.FC model exhibits an obvious under-estimation for the sheet cavity,and the predicted volume fraction is closely related to the turbulent flow.The verification and validation procedure is involved to quantitatively assess the accuracy of these three cavitation models.It is indicated that the V&V procedure is suitable for the unsteady cavitating flow.The errors estimate is robust and conservative within the cavitation region,while gets closer to zero in the no-cavitation region.In addition,ZGB model exhibits the highest overall accuracy among the three models,which further verifies its wide applicability.

Verifying Monoid and Group Morphisms over Strongly Connected Algebraic Automata

Automata theory has played an important role in theoretical computer science since last couple of decades. The alge-braic automaton has emerged with several modern applications, for example, optimization of programs, design of model checkers, development of theorem provers because of having certain interesting properties and structures from algebraic theory of mathematics. Design of a complex system requires functionality and also needs to model its control behavior. Z notation has proved to be an effective tool for describing state space of a system and then defining operations over it. Consequently, an integration of algebraic automata and Z will be a useful computer tool which can be used for modeling of complex systems. In this paper, we have linked algebraic automata and Z defining a relationship between fundamentals of these approaches which is refinement of our previous work. At first, we have described strongly connected algebraic automata. Then homomorphism and its variants over strongly connected automata are specified. Next, monoid endomorphisms and group automorphisms are formalized. Finally, equivalence of endomorphisms and automorphisms under certain assumptions are described. The specification is analyzed and validated using Z/Eves toolset.

药品质量管理术语validation、 verification和qualification语义研究

针对当前药品质量管理中validation、verification和qualification容易混淆和误译的现象,借助语料库软件AntConc,并经ABBYY Aligner处理,结合搭配理论,探讨这三个术语的语义区别以及如何规范化。建议在药品质量管理中,validation译为"验证",verification译为"确证",当探讨杂质问题时,qualification译为"界定",涉及设备或辅助系统时,qualification译为"确认"。

Digital Instrumentation and Control System for Unit 5 ＆ 6 of YangJiang NPP

The article describes the digital instrumentation and control system for unit 5 ＆ 6 of YangJiang NPP, involving the overall I ＆ C （instrumentation and control） structure, the basic requirements and independent verification and validation. Advanced I ＆ C systems for YangJiang NPPs have to meet increasing demands for safety and availability. Additionally, the specific requirements coming from the nuclear qualification have to be fulfilled.

运用路径动态预览模型的低速智能汽车侧向跟踪控制研究

采用速度自适应的动态预瞄距离是提高智能车侧向跟踪控制效果的有效办法。针对目前基本采用基于当前车速的预瞄距离自适应策略,提出一种结合规划路径和规划速度信息的动态预瞄距离跟踪控制算法以提高智能车在低速侧向跟踪控制的精确性。本文以几何学纯跟踪算法为基础,推导了前行和倒车时的侧向跟踪控制律;依据实时规划的路径和速度信息,设计了预瞄距离动态调整方法,最终获取具有速度自适应性的前视距离-车辆前轮转角关系。最后,在CarSim-MATLAB/Simulink联合仿真环境下验证了算法的有效性和准确性,并通过实车测试,验证了所提出的方法较基于动力学模型的LQR算法具有更低计算消耗和更高跟踪精度。

物联网国家标准验证点建设研究

本文梳理了国家标准化主管部门在标准验证方面的政策部署和批准标准验证点建设的举措,总结了在行业主管部门的推动下,物联网技术、产业、标准发展的情况。介绍了物联网标准验证的基础以及取得的成效,分析了物联网标准验证的重点、难点以及物联网标准验证点建设思路、技术路线,提出了物联网标准验证方法。本文提出的标准验证点建设思路以及标准全生命周期验证方法,对于其他类似领域的标准验证工作开展、标准验证点建设将具有参考价值和借鉴意义。

基于模型验证与确认方法的空爆自由场网格敏感性分析

为能够在合理计算规模下准确模拟空爆自由场冲击波特征的网格划分方案,获得可靠的计算结果,本文运用验证与确认(verification and validation,V&V)方法,通过开展网格敏感性分析,确认了炸药空爆计算模型的数值解、外推估值、网格收敛指标与比例距离的定量关系,给出了满足不同网格收敛指标要求的最大比例网格尺寸随比例距离位置的变化关系。据此,在比例距离Z为0~40 m·kg^(-1/3)范围内,给出了划分渐变网格的优化方案。针对1维、2维、3维计算模型,分别比较了细网格、粗网格、渐变网格方案的计算精度与计算耗时情况,讨论了本文提出网格划分方法的适用性。同时,采用本文建议的网格优化方案,给出了动爆冲击波毁伤飞机数值模拟场景的应用算例。结果表明,本文建议的网格优化方案可在几乎不降低计算精度的前提下显著提升计算效率,可为空爆自由场或者近似计算场景的数值模型网格划分提供参考。

Verification and validation of URANS simulations of the turbulent cavitating flow around the hydrofoil

In this paper, we investigate the verification and validation（V＆V） procedures for the URANS simulations of the turbulent cavitating flow around a Clark-Y hydrofoil. The main focus is on the feasibility of various Richardson extrapolation-based uncertainty estimators in the cavitating flow simulation. The unsteady cavitating flow is simulated by a density corrected model（DCM） coupled with the Zwart cavitation model. The estimated uncertainty is used to evaluate the applicability of various uncertainty estimation methods for the cavitating flow simulation. It is shown that the preferred uncertainty estimators include the modified Factor of Safety（FS1）, the Factor of Safety（FS） and the Grid Convergence Index（GCI）. The distribution of the area without achieving the validation at the U v level shows a strong relationship with the cavitation. Further analysis indicates that the predicted velocity distributions, the transient cavitation patterns and the effects of the vortex stretching are highly influenced by the mesh resolution.