Hybrid theorem proving of aerospace systems: Applications and challenges

Complex software systems are becoming increasingly prevalent in aerospace applications, in particular to accomplish critical tasks. Ensuring the safety of these systems is crucial, while they can have subtly different behavior under slight variations in operating conditions. In this paper we advocate the use of formal verification techniques and in particular theorem proving for hybrid software-intensive systems as a wellfounded complementary approach to the classical aerospace verification and validation techniques such as testing or simulation. As an illustration of these techniques, we study a novel lateral mid-air collision avoidance maneuver in an ideal setting, without accounting for the uncertainties of the physical reality. We then detail the challenges that naturally arise when applying such technology to industrial-scale applications and our proposals on how to address these issues