Model Checking General Linear Temporal Logic

Abstract

AbstractWe address the problem of model checking temporal formulas with Until and Since over general linear time. General linear time allows us to go beyond discrete natural numbers time and consider temporal models with continuous properties for applications such as distributed systems and message passing, and to even more unrestricted contexts thrown up by natural language semantics and AI modelling of human reasoning. We use a recently formalised compositional language that is capable of describing models of any satisfiable formula. Given a model described in this model expression language and a temporal logic formula, the algorithm decides whether the formula is satisfied in the model. As for standard natural-numbers time model checkers, the computational time required by the algorithm is linear in the size of the model expression. We illustrate this result briefly with some examples including a system that needs to interact with a environment exhibiting Zeno behaviours.