A model-based approach to reactive self-configuring systems

TLDR

The paper introduces Livingstone, a model‑based kernel for reactive self‑configuring autonomous systems, and formally characterizes its representation formalism while reporting implementation experience across multiple domains. Livingstone implements a reactive system that uses fast propositional conflict‑based deduction and a propositional feedback controller to generate focused, optimal responses, and its representation formalism couples transition‑system models of concurrent reactive languages with qualitative model‑based reasoning to cover hybrid hardware/software systems. Livingstone automates diverse tasks with a single model and core algorithm, demonstrates implementation experience across domains, and has been adopted as part of NASA’s core autonomy architecture for the first New Millennium spacecraft.

Abstract

This paper describes Livingstone, an implemented kernel for a model-based reactive self-configuring autonomous system. It presents a formal characterization of Livingstone's representation formalism, and reports on our experience with the implementation in a variety of domains. Livingstone provides a reactive system that performs significant deduction in the sense/response loop by drawing on our past experience at building fast propositional conflict-based algorithms for model-based diagnosis, and by framing a model-based configuration manager as a propositional feedback controller that generates focused, optimal responses. Livingstone's representation formalism achieves broad coverage of hybrid hardware/software systems by coupling the transition system models underlying concurrent reactive languages with the qualitative representations developed in model-based reasoning. Livingstone automates a wide variety of tasks using a single model and a single core algorithm, thus making significant progress towards achieving a central goal of model-based reasoning. Livingstone, together with the HSTS planning and scheduling engine and the RAPS executive, has been selected as part of the core autonomy architecture for NASA's first New Millennium spacecraft.