CMU-CS-09-147
Computer Science Department
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University



CMU-CS-09-147

Formal Verification of Curved Flight Collision
Avoidance Maneuvers: A Case Study

André Platzer, Edmund M. Clarke

August 2009

CMU-CS-09-147.pdf


Keywords: Formal verification of hybrid systems, deduction, air traffic control, logic for hybrid systems

Aircraft collision avoidance maneuvers are important and complex applications. Curved flight exhibits nontrivial continuous behavior. In combination with the control choices during air traffic maneuvers, this yields hybrid systems with challenging interactions of discrete and continuous dynamics. As a case study illustrating the use of a new proof assistant for a logic for nonlinear hybrid systems, we analyze collision freedom of roundabout maneuvers in air traffic control, where appropriate curved flight, good timing, and compatible maneuvering are crucial for guaranteeing safe spatial separation of aircraft throughout their flight. We show that formal verification of hybrid systems can scale to curved flight maneuvers required in aircraft control applications. We introduce a fully flyable variant of the roundabout collision avoidance maneuver and verify safety properties by compositional verification.

31 pages


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