Vulcan
Verification & Validation for Mission‑Critical Machine Learning
A robust framework to qualify ML algorithms for space and other safety‑critical systems. VULCAN brings structure, traceability, and confidence to AI‑enabled missions—on‑board and on the ground.
- Reduce ML qualification risk
- Make ML acceptable for flight
- Gain clear visibility into model and system behaviour
Why VULCAN
VULCAN provides an end‑to‑end framework to verify and validate ML components within mission‑critical systems. It unifies two complementary pipelines—model‑level assurance and system‑aware testing—supported by a “Safety Cage” that enforces operational constraints around ML behaviour. High‑fidelity digital twins enable early and repeatable testing, while CI/CD‑ready tooling automates reporting and supports continuous improvement throughout development.
Customer benefits include:
- Lower risk when deploying ML in safety‑critical missions
- Faster, more structured assessment and qualification of ML algorithms
- Clear insights into model robustness, uncertainty, and edge‑case behaviour
- Early detection of integration issues using virtualized HW/SW environments and fault‑injection
- Confident evaluation of on‑board feasibility, including resource limits and runtime assurance
VULCAN Architecture Overview
Key capabilities
Model‑level assurance
VULCAN evaluates ML performance across nominal, stressed, and rare scenarios, ensuring that models generalize reliably and remain robust to out‑of‑distribution and adversarial conditions. It provides systematic checks on data coverage, uncertainty, and failure modes—essential for dependable autonomy.
System‑aware testing
Beyond model metrics, VULCAN validates how ML behaves inside the full system. It assesses HW/SW integration, evaluates compute and memory constraints, and verifies the interactions between ML outputs, system logic, and fallback mechanisms. The Safety Cage enforces mission rules and prevents unsafe states.
Digital twins & virtualized environments
High‑fidelity virtual testbeds replicate target hardware, sensors, and mission dynamics. They support stress testing, resource‑constrained execution, fault‑injection, and radiation‑like effects—enabling issues to be identified long before hardware is available.
Continuous testing & automation
VULCAN integrates into modern CI/CD and MLOps workflows. It automates test execution, regression checks, and report generation, supporting incremental improvements as models evolve.
Our expertise & heritage
Our team brings decades of experience across space‑grade software engineering, ECSS‑aligned V&V, and mission‑critical system development. We have delivered high‑performance data processing chains, on‑board AI deployments, and advanced autonomy across SatCom, EO, space robotics, and ground systems. Our engineers combine practical flight software expertise with deep knowledge of ML, runtime verification, digital twins, and formal assurance methods. This unique blend allows us to translate rigorous safety principles into a usable, modern framework for AI‑enabled missions—without compromising reliability or performance.
