A framework for software architecture verification

Abstract

The authors present a framework for analyzing software architecture descriptions using machine-assisted formal proof. Our approach is based on the translation of an existing architecture description language (ADL) based specification to an alternate mathematical representation. We use higher order logic as mechanized by the Prototype Verification System (PVS) as the formal basis of our framework. Our approach is not tied to any particular ADL. Rather, we define an ADL-independent model of architecture description which formalizes the fundamental design concepts of architecture modeling notations. A key feature of our framework is its flexibility; the architect can choose the design concepts that are modeled. Moreover, since the model is generic to many ADLs, our approach allows for the analysis of systems that are specified using more than one notation. We introduce our model of architecture description, and illustrate the utility of our approach by verifying internal properties of an example architecture, a simple compiler specified in a pipe-and-filter architectural style.