ASSURE 2023

ASSURE 2023

7 min read

ASSURE 2023

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 11:50 p.m. EST on March 6, 2020, carrying the uncrewed cargo Dragon spacecraft on its journey to the International Space Station for NASA and SpaceXs 20th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-20) mission.
NASA/Tony Gray and Tim Terry

ASSURE 2023
8th International Workshop on Assurance Cases for Software-intensive Systems
Toulouse, France
September 19, 2023
ASSURE 2023 is live

UPDATES

  • 2023-05-30: Notifications sent to authors
  • 2023-05-01: Submission deadline extended to May 15
  • 2023-04-20: The ASSURE 2023 website is live!

Introduction
The 8th International Workshop on Assurance Cases for Software-intensive Systems (ASSURE 2023) is being collocated this year with SafeComp 2023, and aims to provide an international forum for high-quality contributions on the application of assurance case principles and techniques to provide confidence that the dependability properties of critical software-intensive systems have been met. ASSURE 2023 will be hybrid and run on Central European Time (CET).

The main goals of the workshop are to:

  • Explore techniques for the creation and assessment of assurance cases for software-intensive systems
  • Examine the role of assurance cases in the engineering lifecycle of critical systems
  • Identify the dimension of effective practice in the development and evaluation of assurance cases
  • Investigate the relationship between dependability techniques and assurance cases
  • Identify critical research challenges and define a roadmap for future development

We invite high-quality research, practice, tools, and position papers, as well as papers containing new, forward-looking ideas and emerging results, works-in-progress, and reflections on current research examined through new perspectives, calling for future research directions. See the full Call for Papers, for more details on topics. Also view the submission deadlines, and guidelines.

2023 ASSURE – SASSUR Joint Workshop Program

8:00 9:00
Registration

9:00 9:05
Welcome
9:05 10:00
Welcome Keynote – Safety Cases: in Theory and Reality
Philippa Ryan Conmy

10:00 10:30
Coffee Break

10:30 11:00
Invited Talk – Driving the Development Process from the Safety Case
Christopher Hobbs, Simon Diemert, and Jeff Joyce

11:00 11:30
Computer-Aided Generation of Assurance Cases
T.E. Wang, C. Oh, M. Low, I. Amundson, Z. Daw, A. Pinto, M.L. Chiodo, G. Wang, S. Hasan, R. Melville, P. Nuzzo

11:30 12:00
RACK: A Semantic Model and Triplestore for Curation of Assurance Case Evidence
A. Moitra, P. Cuddihy, K. Siu, D. Archer, E. Mertens, D. Russell, K. Quick, V. Robert, B. Meng

12:00 13:00
Lunch

13:00 13:30
Using Assurance Cases to Prevent Malicious Behaviour from Targeting Safety Vulnerabilities
V. Bandur, M. Lawford, S. Mosser, R. Paige, V. Pantelic, A. Wassyng

13:30 14:00
Constructing Security Cases Based on Formal Verification of Security Requirements in Alloy
M. Zeroual, B. Hamid, M. Adedjouma, J. Jaskolka

14:00 14:30
Assurance Cases for Timing Properties of Automotive TSN Networks
R. Kapinski, V. Pantelic, V. Bandur, A. Wassyng, M. Lawford

14:30 15:00
A Methodology for the Qualification of Operating Systems and Hypervisors for the deployment in IoT devices
I. Bicchierai, E. Schiavone, M.L. Itria, L. Falai, A. Bondavalli

15:00 15:30
Coffee Break

15:30 16:00
Toward Dependability Assurance Framework for Autonomous Systems
Y. Matsuno, T. Takai, M. Okada, T. Tsuchiya

16:00 16:45
Concluding Keynote – NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) Vision for an Objectives-Driven,
Risk-Informed, and Case-Assured Framework
A. Diventi

16:45
Conclusion

Important Dates

Paper submission:            15 May 2023  2 May 2023
Author notification:          25 May 2023
Camera-ready papers:    5 June 2023
Workshop:                          19 September 2023

Call for Papers

Software plays a key role in high-risk systems, e.g., safety and security-critical systems. Assurance cases have been recommended or mandated for software-intensive systems in a number of domains, and are a promising way forward for assurance of autonomous systems. The goals of the 2023 Workshop on Assurance Cases for Softwareintensive Systems (ASSURE 2023) are to: 

  • explore techniques for creating and assessing assurance cases for software-intensive systems, especially those enabling autonomy, including structured argumentation, graphical notations, narrative forms, etc.
  • examine the role of assurance cases in the engineering lifecycle of critical systems;
  • identify the dimensions of effective practice in the development and evaluation of assurance cases;
  • investigate the relationship between dependability techniques and assurance cases; and,
  • identify critical research directions, define a roadmap for future development, and formulate challenge problems.

The workshop will be hybrid, and run on Central European Time (CET).

We solicit high-quality contributions (research, practice, tools, and position papers) on the application of assurance case principles and techniques to assure that the dependability properties of critical software-intensive systems have been met. ASSURE 2023 additionally solicits papers that contain new, forward-looking, ideas with emerging results and concrete plans for comprehensive empirical validation, works-in-progress, as well as reflections that examine current research under a new lens, calling for future research directions. Papers should attempt to address the workshop goals in general. 

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Assurance issues in emerging paradigms, e.g., autonomous and AI-based systems, including self-driving cars, unmanned aircraft systems, complex health care and decision making systems, etc.
  • Standards: Industry guidelines and standards are increasingly requiring the development of assurance cases, e.g., the automotive standard ISO 26262, the FDA guidance on the total product life cycle for infusion pumps and the OMG standard on argumentation (Structured Assurance Case Metamodel, SACM).
  • Certification and Regulations: The role and usage of assurance cases in the certification of critical systems, as well as to show compliance to regulations.
  • Empiricism Empirical assessment of the applicability of assurance cases in different domains and certification regimes.
  • Dependable architectures: How do fault-tolerant architectures and design measures such as diversity and partitioning relate to assurance cases?
  • Dependability analysis: What are the relationships between dependability analysis techniques and the assurance case paradigm?
  • Safety and security co-engineering: What are the impacts of security on safety, particularly safety cases and how can safety and security cases (e.g., as proposed in ISO 26262 and J3062 respectively) be reconciled?
  • Tools: Using the output from software engineering tools (testing, formal verification, code generators) as evidence in assurance cases / using tools for the modeling, analysis and management of assurance cases. More generally, the role of formal verification in the wider context of assurance.
  • Application of formal techniques for the creation, analysis, reuse, and modularization of arguments. Exploration of relevant techniques for assurance cases for real-time, concurrent, and distributed systems.
  • Assurance of software quality attributes, e.g., safety, security and maintainability as well as dependability in general, including tradeoffs, and exploring notions of the quality of assurance cases themselves.
  • Domain-specific assurance issues, in domains such as aerospace, automotive, healthcare, defense and power.
  • Reuse and Modularization: Contracts and patterns for improving the reuse of assurance case structures.
  • Relations between different formalisms and paradigms of assurance and argumentation, such as Goal Structuring Notation, STAMP, IBIS, and goal-oriented formalisms such as KAOS.

Submission

Submission Guidelines

Papers will be peer-reviewed by at least 3 program committee members, and accepted papers will be published in the SAFECOMP 2023 Workshop proceedings, to be published by Springer in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series.  

  • All papers must be original work not published, or in submission, elsewhere. Submission will be via EasyChair.
     
  • Papers should be submitted in PDF only. Please verify that papers can be reliably printed and viewed on screen before submission.
     
  • Papers should conform to the LNCS paper formatting guidelines.
    • Regular (research, or practice), Tools, and Experience papers can be up to 10 pages, including figures, references, and any appendices. Note that authors of accepted tools papers will be expected to give a demonstration of the tool(s) at the workshop. Papers describing the experience of an organization in developing assurance cases are particularly welcome.
       
    • Position papers, and papers presenting new ideas, works-in-progress, and emerging results can be 6 pages, including figures, references, and any appendices.

Committees

Workshop Chairs

  • Ewen Denney, KBR / NASA Ames, USA
  • Ibrahim Habli, University of York, UK
  • Ganesh Pai, KBR / NASA Ames, USA

Program Committee

  • Chih-Hong Cheng, Fraunhofer IKS and TU Munchen, Germany
  • Alan Wassyng, McMaster University, Canada
  • Philippa Ryan Conmy, University of York, England
  • Irfan Sljivo, KBR/NASA Ames Research Center, USA
  • Martin Feather, JPL, USA
  • Yoshiki Kinoshita, Kanagawa University, Japan
  • Kenji Taguchi, National Institute of Informatics, Japan
  • Daniel Schneider, Fraunhofer, Germany
  • Simon Burton, Fraunhofer Institute for Cognitive Systems, Germany
  • Sean White, NHS, England

Contact Us

8th International Workshop on Assurance Cases for Software-intensive Systems
Toulouse, France
September 19, 2023

If you have questions about paper topics, submission and/or about ASSURE 2023 in general, please contact the Workshop Organizers.

Share

Details

Last Updated

Oct 03, 2023

Related Terms

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Sam Kim

News Media Invited To Preview NASA Langley’s Open House

News Media Invited To Preview NASA Langley’s Open House

A NASA employee wears an astronaut suit and stands on bright green and freshly cut grass in front of the welcome sign at NASA Langley Research Center. The welcome sign features a large, blue globe with the NASA insiginia on it and text on a long stone ridge that reads "Langley Research Center." Flowers line the edge of the stone ridge.
NASA’s “Spacey Casey” welcomes visitors to NASA Langley Research Center.
NASA

2 min read

News Media Invited To Preview NASA Langley’s Open House

HAMPTON, Virginia – NASA Langley Research Center invites members of the media to join Director Clayton P. Turner Oct. 16 for a preview of the 2023 Open House. This special tour will highlight some of Langley’s facilities and work in space, aeronautics and Earth science that the public can expect to see during the center’s Open House on Oct. 21.

Media preview schedule:

  • 8:30 – Arrive at Langley, meet at Badge and Pass for escort to the Integrated Engineering Services Building (IESB)
  • 9:00 – Welcome from Center Director Clayton Turner, who will also lead the tour
  • 9:15 – Board bus
  • 9:30 – Visit the National Transonic Facility (NTF)
  • 10:30 – Visit Buildings 1148/Structures and Materials Lab and 1293/Structural Dynamics Test Laboratory
  • 11:30 – Visit Building 1244/Aircraft Hangar
  • 12:30 – Return to IESB

Media outlets wishing to participate must contact Sondra Woodward at 757-848-7690 no later than noon, Friday, Oct. 13. Media must arrive no later than 8:30 a.m. at the Badge and Pass Office to receive their badges. 

Attendees are not required to stay for the duration of the tour, and arrangements will be made for those who want to leave early.

For media:

Images: https://www.nasa.gov/langley/images

Video: https://www.nasa.gov/langley/videos

2017 Open House video

Additional resources:

Attractions: https://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/openhouse/#activities

Parking: https://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/openhouse/parking/

FAQ: https://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/openhouse/faq/

Map: https://oh.larc.nasa.gov/oh/openhouse/map/

–end–

Sondra Woodward
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
757-848-7690
sondra.woodward@nasa.gov

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Sondra Woodward

Shaigh Sisk: Keeping the Wheels Turning in Projects and Pottery

Shaigh Sisk: Keeping the Wheels Turning in Projects and Pottery

Shaigh Sisk, a woman with curly brown hair pulled back in a braid, smiles joyfully at the camera while holding a large blue and yellow crab in her right hand. She wears a green hat and navy tee, and is kneeling and holding the crab. Other people in yellow and white shirts stand behind her.
Shaigh Sisk, planner and scheduler for the Optical to Orion project in the Laser-Enhanced Mission Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS) office, enjoys traveling near water when she isn’t at work.
Credits: Courtesy of Shaigh Sisk

Name: Shaigh Sisk

Title: Planner / Scheduler, Optical to Orion Project, Laser-Enhanced Mission Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS)

Organization: Exploration and Space Communications Projects (ESC) Division, Code 450

What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?

I provide administrative support to division management and scientists on multiple tasks and projects. I also facilitate and streamline processes for official government travel and government purchases using a government credit card.

What is your educational background? How did you come to Goddard?

In 2017, I earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland University College in environmental management. My dream job through college was to work for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, where I started working in 2017 supporting their education department. In 2019, after a friend who worked at Goddard said how much she loved working here, I came to Goddard into my current position because of greater opportunities.

What is the most interesting work you have done at Goddard?

I started shortly before the COVID shutdown and associated restrictions. I had to navigate the COVID policies in terms of government travel and purchasing, which have changed over the last two years. One benefit is that sorting out these new processes and restrictions have allowed me to work with a great number of people at Goddard.

Shaigh Sisk, a woman with curly brown hair pulled back in a braid, leans to her right to stare intently at a container filled with water and holding a small yellow seahorse. Shaigh wears a green hat and navy tee, and other people are visible sitting behind her. The container with the seahorse takes up most of the image, with the seahorse's delicate spines and curved yellow back fin clearly visible.
Project support specialist Shaigh Sisk provides administrative support to several divisions and tasks at Goddard, helping with things like travel and project management. Her six-word memoir, she says, is “Dive in, the water is great!”
Credits: Courtesy of Shaigh Sisk

Who are your mentors?

Until recently, I directly supported Stephanie Getty, the director of our division. Her position keeps evolving so I have to keep up with her. She is brilliant! She supports so many amazing scientific ventures and is a phenomenal leader. She truly cares about the people in the workforce as individuals.

I was five months pregnant with my first child in March 2020 as we went into lockdown. Stephanie is a great role model, as she is a working mom of two in a leadership position. She is always very understanding about work-life balance and is an inspiration, especially on really hard days, to do your best and keep going forward. She has recommended me for opportunities to consult with other individuals in the directorate’s office to streamline policies and processes relating to travel.

Also, Juri Schauermann, the assistant director, has encouraged me and provided opportunities to work on tasks that continuously improve my skills. Juri creates a work environment that is fun and efficient. She is an amazing female role model balancing a successful career and a family of six. I feel grateful to have her as a supportive mentor but also as a friend.

What do you like most about working at Goddard?

It would be my group of people. Our front office group is very supportive and tight knit. I feel fortunate to work with people who look out for each other, and they are truly my work family The first thing we do Monday morning is catch up with each other as a group to go over what our week looks like and form a game plan. We ask about each other’s weekends, vacations, and children. Aside from everyone being amazing humans, we are all spectacular at what we do and keep the division running super smooth. The culture of Goddard is just unmatched.

Where do you hope to be in five years?

Over the next few years, I want to explore and develop skills in project management. In five years, I want to have gained experience in leading projects and tasks that I am excited about and continue to work with people at Goddard within different disciplines. What I love about my current position is that after only three years, I have been exposed to so many avenues.

Shaigh Sisk, a woman with curly brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, sits at a pottery studio workbench sculpting a ceramic mug, while the sun shines brightly in through the studio door and casts rays across the image. Shaigh wears a dark gray tee and small hoop earrings. The mug in her hands is gray clay, and blocks and rolls of the same clay sit on the bench near her, along with sculpting tools and sponges. Racks with drying pottery in various shades of beige are visible behind her.
Project support specialist Shaigh Sisk creates pottery when she’s not at work. “I love the opportunity that pottery provides to mesh creativity and science,” she said.
Credits: Courtesy of Shaigh Sisk

What are your hobbies?

In my spare time I love spending time at a local pottery studio near my house and creating new forms on the pottery wheel. I hope to one day have my own little pottery studio at my house where I can have a place to be creative and continue to practice a craft I started doing in high school. I love the opportunity that pottery provides to mesh creativity and science. 

After you create your form, it all comes down to chemistry. One of the most interesting examples of chemistry in pottery that I’ve experienced is Raku firing. This is an ancient Japanese ceramics technique that uses a mixture of high heat, combustibles, and starvation of oxygen to create unique and random colors within the glaze depending on how the different elements react.

Where is your favorite place in the world and why?

Anywhere near water. I find water very tranquil and relaxing, and I love how my senses come alive when I’m near it. I’m fascinated with the different ecosystems that exist within and around water. A trip to the state of Washington to see killer and humpback whales swim freely in their natural habitat was an unexplainable experience for me. My travel destinations are always chosen around what aquatic creatures I can interact with. My dream place to visit would be the Galapagos Islands.

What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words.

Dive in, the water is great!

Editor’s Note: At the time of this interview, Shaigh worked as a lead project support specialist in the Solar System Exploration Division, and her answers reflect her work at that time. As of February 2023, she now works as the planner and scheduler for the Optical to Orion project in the Laser-Enhanced Mission Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS) office, while still supporting the SSED office group.

A banner graphic with a group of people smiling and the text "Conversations with Goddard" on the right. The people represent many genders, ethnicities, and ages, and all pose in front of a soft blue background image of space and stars.

Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.

By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Jessica Evans

Frank Rubio Returns to Earth

Frank Rubio Returns to Earth

Astronaut Frank Rubio gives the camera a thumbs up as he is carried by four men, including NASA astronaut Joe Acaba (front left). Rubio wears a white spacesuit with blue accents and several mission patches. He rests against the propped-up top portion of a stretcher and has a dark blue blanket on his lap.
NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio landed in Kazakhstan on Sept. 27, 2023, after spending 371 days in space aboard the International Space Station. Rubio’s mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history.

While on the space station, Rubio completed 5,963 orbits of the Earth. See the highlights of his year in space.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Monika Luabeya

NASA Studies Human Pilots to Advance Autonomous Air Taxis

NASA Studies Human Pilots to Advance Autonomous Air Taxis

NASA research pilot Scott “Jelly” Howe tested specialized retinal movement tracking glasses at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Bridgeport, Connecticut on June 27, 2023. The glasses will help researchers working to design air taxis understand how a pilot visually experiences the cockpit and interacts with flight navigation tools.
NASA research pilot Scott “Jelly” Howe tested specialized retinal movement tracking glasses at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Bridgeport, Connecticut on June 27, 2023. The glasses will help researchers working to design air taxis understand how a pilot visually experiences the cockpit and interacts with flight navigation tools.
NASA/Dr. Tyler Fettrow

Air taxis may become an important part of the U.S. transportation ecosystem, quickly carrying people relatively short distances – and eventually some may fly without a pilot aboard. NASA is helping prepare for that future with research to ensure that fully autonomous flight technology is safe.

Currently, a NASA study team is evaluating how autonomous software can work with flight navigation tools. And to get that information, they’re investigating how human pilots interact with the new flight navigation technology.

This work, involving the agency’s research pilots, software developers, and flight engineers, is critical for NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission, which envisions a future of new air transportation options including air taxis and delivery drones. The research is part of an automation software development collaboration between NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky.

During an upcoming test, NASA research pilot Scott “Jelly” Howe will wear specially designed glasses that track the movement of his pupils, as well as biometric sensors that measure his body temperature and brain activity during flight. Data gathered will include Howe’s real-time reactions to ground control instructions, aircraft controls, the presence of other aircraft, and weather. The research will also monitor his use of a specially designed tablet into which he will select algorithm suggested flight path options and manually input commands.

Biometric indicators such as dilated pupils, increased brain activity, elevated heart rate, respiration, and temperature can reveal when a pilot is experiencing excessive workload or heightened stress levels. The data gathered through this study will provide insight into pilots’ tendencies during flight. NASA researchers will use that data to improve future autonomous systems, so they can respond to hazards like human pilots would, paving the way for air taxi operations in the U.S. airspace

“The biometric devices we employ enable us to quantify physiological aspects that are typically subconscious,” said NASA human factors researcher Dr. Tyler Fettrow. “Through these devices, we capture eye tracking data, providing insights into where the pilot’s attention is focused, the duration of their fixations, and changes in pupil dilation.”

This type of human-factors research is important because of the unique challenges involved with integrating air taxis in the existing airspace system, where autonomous systems will have to avoid obstacles like other aircraft, buildings, birds, and weather. NASA is looking at the larger blueprint of how these aircraft will be integrated into the national airspace.

“Advanced Air Mobility systems typically involve a high degree of automation and interaction between the humans and technology,” Fettrow said. “Designing interfaces that provide clear situational awareness, appropriate alerts and notifications, and effective communication channels is vital for safe operations.”

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Cody S. Lydon