Using Fairness Constraints in Process-Algebraic Verification

Abstract

AbstractAlthough liveness and fairness have been used for a long time in classical model checking, with process-algebraic methods they have seen far less use. One problem is that it is difficult to combine fairness constraints with the compositionality of process algebra. Here we show how a class of fairness constraints can be applied in a consistent way to processes in the compositional setting. We use only ordinary, but possibly infinite, LTSs as our models of processes. In many cases the infinite LTSs are part of a larger system, which can again be represented as a finite LTS. We show how this finiteness can be recovered, namely, we present an algorithm that checks whether a finite representation exists and, if it does, constructs a finite LTS that is equivalent to the infinite system. Even in the negative case, the system produced by the algorithm is a conservative estimate of the infinite system. Such a finite representation can be placed as a component in further compositional analysis just like any other LTS.KeywordsTemporal LogicLinear Temporal LogicParallel CompositionVisible ActionLabel Transition SystemThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.