Proving correctness of unmanned aerial vehicle cooperative software

As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) become more prevalent, it is important to show that the software being used to control the UAVs has been built correctly. An error in the UAV auto-pilot or navigation system could result in the destruction of the UAV or objects on the ground. The purpose of this research is to develop a software application that will control the cooperation between two UAVs during reconnaissance. This application is being developed using formal methods in software engineering to prove the correctness of the software. The SPARK programming language provides techniques for building correct software applications and proofs of their correctness without relying on extensive testing. The SPARK language is a powerful application of formal methods to the area of safety-critical systems.