Bounded Model Checking High Level Petri Nets in PIPE+Verifier

Abstract

High level Petri nets (HLPNs) have been widely applied to model concurrent and distributed systems in computer science and many other engineering disciplines. However, due to the expressive power of HLPNs, they are more difficult to analyze. Exhaustive analysis methods such as traditional model checking based on fixed point calculation of state space may not work for HLPNs due to the state explosion problem. Bounded model checking (BMC) using satisfiability solvers is a promising analysis method that can handle a much larger state space than traditional model checking method. In this paper, we present an analysis method for HLPNs by leveraging the BMC technique with a state-of-the-art satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver Z3. A HLPN model and some safety properties are translated into a first order logic formula that is checked by Z3. This analysis method has been implemented in a tool called PIPE+Verifier and is completely automatic. We show our results of applying PIPE+Verifier to several models from the Model Checking Contest @ Petri Nets and a few other sources.KeywordsFormal MethodsPetri NetsModel CheckingBounded Model Checking