Dimitra Giannakopoulou

Research computer scientist at NASA

Abstract

Autonomy introduces new dimensions in the complexity of software, which require breakthroughs in assurance technologies and certification processes. This talk reviews our work on verification of autonomy in the context of two applications: autonomous navigation of search-and-rescue drones; the next generation airborne collision avoidance system (ACAS X) for commercial aircraft. Through these applications we identify unique challenges that autonomy poses for verification and validation, and discuss approaches for addressing them.

Bio

Dimitra Giannakopoulou is a Senior Research Scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center, and member of the Robust Software Engineering group. Her work is concerned with the development of scalable verification and validation techniques for safety critical systems. She holds a PhD in Distributed Computing from Imperial College, London. She is the technical lead for two NASA open source verification tools, jpf-psycho and FRET. She is the recipient of several awards, including a NASA exceptional technology achievement medal, and an Automated Software Engineering conference most influential paper award. She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and has delivered several keynote talks at international conferences. For more information see https://ti.arc.nasa.gov/profile/dimitra/.