A Reactive Model-based Programming Language for Robotic Space Explorers

Model-based autonomous agents have emerged recently as vital technologies in the development of highly autonomous reactive systems, particularly in the aerospace domain. These agents utilize many automated reasoning capabilities, but are complicated to use because of the variety of languages employed for each capability. To address this problem, we introduce model-based programming, a novel approach to designing embedded software systems. In particular, we introduce the Reactive Model-based Programming Language (RMPL), which provides a framework for constraint-based modeling, as well as a suite of reactive programming constructs. To convey the expressiveness of RMPL, we show how it captures the main features of synchronous programming languages and advanced robotic execution languages. This paper focuses on using the rich behavior modeling of RMPL to provide sequencing and robotic execution capabilities for spacecraft.