Experiences with a requirements-based programming approach to the development of a NASA autonomous ground control system

Requirements-to-design-to-code (R2D2C) is an approach to the engineering of computer-based systems that embodies the idea of requirements-based programming in system development. It goes further, however, in that the approach offers not only an underlying formalism, but full formal development from requirements capture through to the automatic generation of provably-correct code. As such, the approach has direct application to the development of systems requiring autonomic properties. We describe a prototype tool to support the method, and illustrate its applicability to the development of LOGOS, a NASA autonomous ground control system, which exhibits autonomic behavior. Finally, we briefly discuss other areas where the approach and prototype tool are being considered for application.