Bug spotting

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science have developed a method for systematically identifying bugs in aircraft collision avoidance systems, high-speed train controls and other complex, computer-controlled devices, collectively known as cyber-physical systems (CPSs).
   
The approach, developed by Edmund M Clarke, the university's professor of computer science, and Andre Platzer, the assistant professor of computer science, has already detected a flaw in aircraft collision avoidance manoeuvres - which have since been corrected - that could have caused mid-air collisions.

It also has verified the soundness of the European Train Control System: a signalling, control and train protection system designed to replace the many incompatible safety systems currently used by European railways, especially on high-speed lines.
   
Clarke said: 'Engineers are increasingly relying on computers to improve the safety and precision of physical systems that must interact with the real world, whether they be adaptive cruise controls in automobiles or machines that monitor critically ill patients.