Air Force systems are becoming more complex, and the push for increased autonomy in these systems means that complexity will grow even faster than before. Tests and simulation methods need exponentially more effort to properly evaluate more complex systems, and leaves more room for error, while demanding more and more time and money to complete. The Summer of Innovation (SoI) methods offer the ability to develop systems which are faster than traditional test and certification approaches, at lower costs.
WBI and AFRL created the SoI pilot project to evaluate the potential of formal methods in particular target areas such as collision prediction of objects in orbit and verification hybrid systems. Without WBI’s help this work would at best be delayed or may not have taken place, which would mean relying on solely on the existing, non-scalable certification and testing process.
AFRL uncovered and demonstrated that scalability and formal analysis is possible for a number of domains. Target areas for future research on which currently inefficient methods (the F-16 GCAS verification benchmark) were also identified..