Inferring system-level properties

The method of claim I, wherein verifying the number of component properties includes at least one technique selected from the group including:

• command sequence checking;
• component synthesis;
• model checking;
• and
• performance testing.

A method for inferring system-level properties, comprising:

• maintaining a system model having a number of levels of abstraction, the system model including:
• a number of physical system components within a component hierarchy;
• and
• a number of control functions at different levels of abstraction within a control hierarchy;
• providing a number of mission requirements;
• providing a number of system-level properties;
• mapping at least one of the number of system-level properties to one or more of the number of control functions;
• mapping at least one of the system-level properties to one or more of the number of physical system components;
• generating a constraint model from the system model, the number of mission requirements, and the number of system-level properties;
• and
• reasoning across the constraint model to determine whether one or more of the number of system-level properties mapped to the one or more of the number of control functions and to the one or more of the number of physical system components are satisfied in response to one or more particular adjustments to:
• the number of mission requirements;
• the number of system-level properties;
• the system model;
• the number of physical system components;
• and
• the number of control functions.

A tool for inferring system-level properties, comprising:

• a verification module configured to verify a number of component properties corresponding to a number of components of a particular system;
• a modeling module configured to generate a constraint model based on a system model and a number of verified component properties, wherein the system model includes:
• a component architecture and hierarchy;
• a control architecture and hierarchy;
• a number of mission requirements;
• and
• a number of system-level properties;
• and
• wherein the constraint model includes:
• a number of mission constraints modeling one or more of the number of mission requirements;
• a number of system constraints modeling one or more of the number of system-level properties;
• and
• a number of component constraints modeling one or more of a number of component properties associated with the component architecture and hierarchy and the control architecture and hierarchy;
• and
• an inference module configured to analyze the constraint model to determine whether one or more particular system-level properties can be inferred from the constraint model.