An official website of the United States government
Perception of obstacles remains a critical safety concern for autonomous vehicles. Real-world collisions have shown that the autonomy faults leading to fatal collisions originate from obstacle existence detection. Open source autonomous driving implementations show a perception pipeline with complex interdependent Deep Neural Networks. These networks are not fully verifiable, making them unsuitable for safety-critical tasks. In this work, we present a safety verification of an existing LiDAR based classical obstacle detection algorithm. We establish strict bounds on the capabilities of this obstacle detection algorithm. Given safety standards, such bounds allow for determining LiDAR sensor properties that would reliably satisfy the standards. Such analysis has as yet been unattainable for neural network based perception systems. We provide a rigorous analysis of the obstacle detection s
more »
« less
Perception simplex: Verifiable collision avoidance in autonomous vehicles amidst obstacle detection faults
Abstract Advances in deep learning have revolutionized cyber‐physical applications, including the development of autonomous vehicles. However, real‐world collisions involving autonomous control of vehicles have raised significant safety concerns regarding the use of deep neural networks (DNNs) in safety‐critical tasks, particularly perception. The inherent unverifiability of DNNs poses a key challenge in ensuring their safe and reliable operation. In this work, we propose perception simplex ( ), a fault‐tolerant application architecture designed for obstacle detection and collision avoidance. We analyse an existing LiDAR‐based classical obstacle detection algorithm to establish strict bounds on its capabilities and limitations. Such analysis and verification have not been possible for deep learning‐based perception systems yet. By employing verifiable obstacle detection algorithms, identifies obstacle existence detection faults in the output of unverifiable DNN‐based object detectors. When faults with potential collision risks are detected, appropriate corrective actions are initiated. Through extensive analysis and software‐in‐the‐loop simulations, we demonstrate that provides deterministic fault tolerance against obstacle existence detection faults, establishing a robust safety guarantee.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2311085
- PAR ID:
- 10510170
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Software Testing, Verification and Reliability
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0960-0833
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Martín-Sacristán, David; Garcia-Roger, David (Ed.)With the recent 5G communication technology deployment, Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) significantly enhances road safety by enabling real-time exchange of critical traffic information among vehicles, pedestrians, infrastructure, and networks. However, further research is required to address real-time application latency and communication reliability challenges. This paper explores integrating cutting-edge C-V2X technology with environmental perception systems to enhance safety at intersections and crosswalks. We propose a multi-module architecture combining C-V2X with state-of-the-art perception technologies, GPS mapping methods, and the client–server module to develop a co-operative perception system for collision avoidance. The proposed system includes the following: (1) a hardware setup for C-V2X communication; (2) an advanced object detection module leveraging Deep Neural Networks (DNNs); (3) a client–server-based co-operative object detection framework to overcome computational limitations of edge computing devices; and (4) a module for mapping GPS coordinates of detected objects, enabling accurate and actionable GPS data for collision avoidance—even for detected objects not equipped with C-V2X devices. The proposed system was evaluated through real-time experiments at the GMMRC testing track at Kettering University. Results demonstrate that the proposed system enhances safety by broadcasting critical obstacle information with an average latency of 9.24 milliseconds, allowing for rapid situational awareness. Furthermore, the proposed system accurately provides GPS coordinates for detected obstacles, which is essential for effective collision avoidance. The technology integration in the proposed system offers high data rates, low latency, and reliable communication, which are key features that make it highly suitable for C-V2X-based applications.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Commonly used metrics for evaluation of object detection systems (precision, recall, mAP) do not give complete information about their suitability of use in safety-critical tasks, like obstacle detection for collision avoidance in Autonomous Vehicles (AV). This work introduces the Risk Ranked Recall ($R^3$) metrics for object detection systems. The $R^3$ metrics categorize objects within three ranks. Ranks are assigned based on an objective cyber-physical model for the risk of collision. Recall is measured for each rankmore » « less
-
null; null (Ed.)Perception algorithms in autonomous vehicles are vital for the vehicle to understand the semantics of its surroundings, including detection and tracking of objects in the environment. The outputs of these algorithms are in turn used for decision-making in safety-critical scenarios like collision avoidance, and automated emergency braking. Thus, it is crucial to monitor such perception systems at runtime. However, due to the high-level, complex representations of the outputs of perception systems, it is a challenge to test and verify these systems, especially at runtime. In this paper, we present a runtime monitoring tool, PerceMon that can monitor arbitrary specifications in Timed Quality Temporal Logic (TQTL) and its extensions with spatial operators. We integrate the tool with the CARLA autonomous vehicle simulation environment and the ROS middleware platform while monitoring properties on state-of-the-art object detection and tracking algorithms.more » « less
-
We propose AccHashtag, the first framework for high-accuracy detection of fault-injection attacks on Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) with provable bounds on detection performance. Recent literature in fault-injection attacks shows the severe DNN accuracy degradation caused by bit flips. In this scenario, the attacker changes a few DNN weight bits during execution by injecting faults to the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). To detect bit flips, AccHashtag extracts a unique signature from the benign DNN prior to deployment. The signature is used to validate the model’s integrity and verify the inference output on the fly. We propose a novel sensitivity analysis that identifies the most vulnerable DNN layers to the fault-injection attack. The DNN signature is constructed by encoding the weights in vulnerable layers using a low-collision hash function. During DNN inference, new hashes are extracted from the target layers and compared against the ground-truth signatures. AccHashtag incorporates a lightweight methodology that allows for real-time fault detection on embedded platforms. We devise a specialized compute core for AccHashtag on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to facilitate online hash generation in parallel to DNN execution. Extensive evaluations with the state-of-the-art bit-flip attack on various DNNs demonstrate the competitive advantage of AccHashtag in terms of both attack detection and execution overhead.more » « less
