Run time monitoring of reactive system models

Abstract

In model-based development of reactive systems, statecharts are widely used for formal design of system behavior, and provide a sound basis for analysis and verification tools, as well as for code generation from system models. We present an approach for dynamic analysis of reactive systems via run-time verification of code produced with Statemate C and MicroC code generators by D. Harel (1987) and M.Thanne and R.Yerushalmi (2001). The core of the approach is automatic creation of monitoring statecharts from formulas that specify the system's behavioral properties in a proposed assertion language. Such monitors are then translated into code together with the system model, and executed concurrently with the system code. This approach leads to a more realistic analysis of reactive systems, as monitoring is supported in the system's actual operating environment. For models that include design-level attributes (division into tasks, etc.), this is crucial for performance-related checks, and helps to overcome restrictions inherent in simulation and model checking.