Formal timing analysis of distributed systems

Abstract

Although a large number of formal methods have been reported in the literature, most of them are applicable only at the initial stages of software development. A major reason for this situation is that those formalisms lack expressiveness to describe the behavior of systems with respect to their underlying configurations. On the other hand, recent experience has shown that the complex nature of distributed systems is conveniently described, constructed and managed in terms of their configuration. In this context, with the twin objectives of accurately modelling the real-timed behavior of distributed systems and supporting the analysis of timing behavior with respect to their underlying configurations, we formulate a logic language called distributed logic (DL). DL is a first-order logic augmented with temporal and spatial modalities. The semantics of DL are based on ideas drawn from both the interleaving and partial order models. In addition to the syntax and semantics of the logic, a formal proof scheme for a distributed programming model is also presented. Finally, use of the proof method is illustrated through the analysis of the real-time properties of a sample problem.