{"id":7440,"date":"2018-03-29T14:30:21","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T14:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/website.prod.unilu.spikeseed.cloud\/en\/news\/natural-language-processing-facilitates-software-development\/"},"modified":"2018-03-29T14:30:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T14:30:21","slug":"natural-language-processing-facilitates-software-development","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/news\/natural-language-processing-facilitates-software-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Language Processing facilitates software development"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"wp-block-unilux-blocks-free-section section\"><div class=\"container xl:max-w-screen-xl\"><p>New Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies to prevent project failures and delays resulting from inadequate software requirements.<\/p><p>The Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg has entered a collaborative research partnership with Canada-based QRA Corp, a developer of systems and requirements engineering technology. This joint research project will explore how NLP can help requirements engineers ensure the quality of their work, translating their requirements texts into precise specifications suitable for automated analysis.<\/p><p>Further, the project will develop techniques for the automated simulation and testing of the resulting requirements and system design models. The collaboration makes QRA the first member of SnT\u2019s Partnership Programme not based in Luxembourg.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-dev4-reusable-blocks-image  object-fit--contain\">\n    \n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-image unilux-custom-image-block\"\n                alt=\"\"\n            src=\"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/07\/nlp_collaboration.png\"\n                srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/07\/nlp_collaboration-300x177.png 300w, https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/07\/nlp_collaboration.png 500w\"\n                style=\"object-position: 50.00% 50.00%; font-family: &quot;object-fit: contain; object-position: 50.00% 50.00%;&quot;; aspect-ratio: 16\/9; object-fit: contain; width: 100%;\"\n        loading=\"lazy\"\n\/>            <p class=\"wp-block-dev4-reusable-blocks-image-caption\">\n            De gauche \u00e0 droite : le Dr Mehrdad Sabetzadeh, le Dr Sallam Abualhaija, le Prof. Lionel C. Briand et le Dr Shiva Nejati        <\/p>\n    <\/figure><p><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-unilux-blocks-heading\"        id=\"translating-natural-language-into-computer-language\"\n    >\nTranslating natural language into computer language<\/h2>\n<p>Just as a ship\u2019s navigator needs to know the final destination before planning a route, successful software development relies on a set of clear requirements, defining the expected system behaviour from the start. Inadequate requirements can lead to project failures, delays and even \u2013 in domains such as automation and aerospace \u2013 loss of life. Ideally therefore, a computer would analyse these requirements, highlighting issues of ambiguity and incompleteness which engineers might otherwise overlook. Many such tools have already been developed, but so far these only work on formal and analysable computer languages, rather than the unanalysable natural languages (such as English) that engineers continue to use. SnT researchers will therefore develop automated tools that work directly on the natural-language documents preferred by engineers.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-unilux-blocks-heading\"        id=\"extracting-the-key-semantic-information\"\n    >\nExtracting the key semantic information<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cAs humans, much of what we say and write is subject to interpretation, depending on cultural and situational context,\u201d says SnT researcher Dr <a href=\"https:\/\/wwwen.uni.lu\/snt\/people\/mehrdad_sabetzadeh\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Senior Research scientist at the University of Luxembourg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mike Sabetzadeh<\/a>, who is leading the requirements engineering activities in the project. \u201cFor example, when we say that something should be done quickly, we assume that somebody else will understand how quickly. Problems arise when such vagueness creeps into documents that need to be very precise and specific, such as requirements for complex systems.\u201d This research will realise Natural Language Processing\u2019s enormous potential both for flagging up such quality issues and extracting the key semantic information from a document and rendering it into precise formulae.<\/p><p>Even with good requirements in place, however, a great deal of effort must then go in to verifying that systems comply with them. \u201cGiven the complexity of systems today, this task is beyond human capacity,\u201d says Dr\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wwwen.uni.lu\/snt\/people\/shiva_nejati\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Research scientist at the University of Luxembourg\" rel=\"noopener\">Shiva Nejati<\/a> who leads the verification activities in the project. \u201cWhen we write requirements, particularly for cyber physical systems [where software and hardware interact] in automotive and aerospace applications, there might be uncertainty about the system\u2019s environment, or even system components that haven\u2019t been designed yet. This becomes problematic at later stages when defining whether a system has met its requirements.\u201d To cope with such challenges, researchers will use artificial intelligence to build automated verification techniques based on simulations of the environment.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-unilux-blocks-heading\"        id=\"addressing-the-industrys-real-pain-points\"\n    >\nAddressing the industry\u2019s real pain points<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cCurrent challenges in requirements engineering, as illustrated in the project with QRA, show just how important it is for research to be carried out with a deep understanding of industry realities,\u201d says Prof. <a href=\"https:\/\/wwwen.uni.lu\/snt\/people\/lionel_briand\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Professor at the University of Luxembourg, Head of SVV Lab &#038; Vice-Director of SnT\" rel=\"noopener\">Lionel Briand<\/a>, who leads SnT\u2019s activities in the field of <a href=\"https:\/\/wwwen.uni.lu\/snt\/research\/software_verification_and_validation_lab\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Software Verification and Validation Lab, SnT\" rel=\"noopener\">software verification and validation<\/a>. \u201cAcademic solutions tend in general to be unrealistic, but in collaboration with QRA we can develop innovative technology that addresses the industry\u2019s real pain points.\u201d<\/p><p>QRA\u2019s Chief Technology Officer Dean Tsaltas shares this opinion: \u201cQRA is thrilled to be working with the world class researchers at SnT. QRA and SnT agree on the best approach to create valuable technology: work with customers on problems they are currently facing. We foresee a long-term, productive relationship between SnT and QRA that results in tools that fundamentally change the way industry approaches requirements engineering and design verification.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-unilux-blocks-heading\"        id=\"university-of-luxembourg\"\n    >\n\u00a9 University of Luxembourg<\/h5>\n<\/div><\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies to prevent project failures and delays resulting from inadequate software requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7441,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"featured_image_focal_point":[],"show_featured_caption":false,"ulux_newsletter_groups":"","uluxPostTitle":"","uluxPrePostTitle":"","_trash_the_other_posts":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"news-category":[11,10],"news-topic":[],"organisation":[191,233],"authorship":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.3) - 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