CPS: Small: Formal Analysis of Man-Machine Interfaces to Cyber-Physical Systems
Lead PI:
Sriram Sankaranarayanan
Co-Pi:
Abstract
The objective of this research is to develop formal verification tools for human-computer interfaces to cyber-physical systems. The approach is incorporating realistic assumptions about the behavior of humans into the verification process through mathematically constructed "mistake models" for common types of mistakes committed by the operator during an interactive task. Exhaustive verification techniques are used to expose combinations of human mistakes that can lead to system-wide failures. The techniques are evaluated using case studies involving medical device interfaces. The problem of verifying human-machine interfaces requires new approaches that combine rigorous formal verification techniques with the empirical human-centered approach to user-interface evaluation. The research addresses challenges of integrating empirical user-study data into formal game-based models that describe common types of operator mistakes. Using these models to detect subtle flaws in user-interface design is also a challenge. It is well-known that a poorly designed interface will enable harmful operator errors, which remain a major cause of failures in a wide variety of safety-critical cyber-physical systems. This project will automate user-interface verification by detecting likely defects, early in the design process. Open source verification tools will be made freely available to the community at large. The ongoing research will be integrated into a set of graduate-level computer science courses focused on the theme of "Safety in Human Computer Interfaces". Results from the project will also be integrated into educational materials for the ongoing eCSite GK12 project with the goal of promoting awareness of user-interface design issues amongst high school students.
Sriram Sankaranarayanan
Sriram Sankaranarayanan is an assistant professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His research interests include automatic techniques for reasoning about the behavior of computer and cyber-physical systems. Sriram obtained a PhD in 2005 from Stanford University where he was advised by Zohar Manna and Henny Sipma. Subsequently he worked as a research staff member at NEC research labs in Princeton, NJ. He has been on the faculty at CU Boulder since 2009. Sriram has been the recipient of awards including the President's Gold Medal from IIT Kharagpur (2000), Siebel Scholarship (2005), the CAREER award from NSF (2009) and the Dean's award for outstanding junior faculty for the College of Engineering at CU Boulder (2012).
Performance Period: 09/15/2010 - 08/31/2014
Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 1035845