Formal Verification Of Real-time Systems Research Articles

Towards a formal specification for an AADL behavioural subset using the LNT language

The analysis of real-time systems designed by architectural languages such as architecture analysis and design language (AADL) is a challenging research topic. In such a context, formal methods become an advocated practice in software engineering for rigorous analysis. Yet, they are applied on specific formalisms to be analysed on dedicated tools. This paper studies the formal verification of real-time systems modelled with the AADL language and its behaviour annex. We define a formal semantics of an AADL behavioural subset using the LNT language. This work is illustrated with a robot case study.

A Flattening Algorithm for Hierarchical Timed Automata

We propose a coherent algorithm for the translation of hierarchical timed automata into networks of (planar) timed automata. This kind of translation is called flattening. The two types of timed automata are used in formal verification of real-time systems: systems of parallel interacting components whose execution essentially depends not only on the order of the events in the system, but also on the real time of these events. The concept of hierarchical timed automaton covers the syntactic variations that are used in existing studies and are non-comparable by their expressive power. The number of states in a flattened network of time automata is of the least order among the flattening results of existing studies.

Formal Verification of Real-Time Systems with Data Processing

The behavior of practical safety critical systems often combines real-time behavior with structured data flow. To ensure correctness of such systems, both aspects have to be modeled and formally verified. Time related behavior can be efficiently modeled and analyzed in terms of timed automata. At the same time, program verification techniques like abstract interpretation and software model checking can efficiently handle data flow. In this paper, we describe a simple formalism that represents both aspects of such systems in a uniform and explicit way, thus enables the combination of formal analysis methods for real-time systems and software using standard techniques.

Formal verification of real-time systems with preemptive scheduling

In this paper, we propose a method for the verification of timed properties for real-time systems featuring a preemptive scheduling policy: the system, modeled as a scheduling time Petri net, is first translated into a linear hybrid automaton to which it is time-bisimilar. Timed properties can then be verified using HYTECH. The efficiency of this approach leans on two major points: first, the translation features a minimization of the number of variables (clocks) of the resulting automaton, which is a critical parameter for the efficiency of the ensuing verification. Second, the translation is performed by an over-approximating algorithm, which is based on Difference Bound Matrix and therefore efficient, that nonetheless produces a time-bisimilar automaton despite the over-approximation. The proposed modeling and verification method are generic enough to account for many scheduling policies. In this paper, we specifically show how to deal with Fixed Priority and Earliest Deadline First policies, with the possibility of using Round-Robin for tasks with the same priority. We have implemented the method and give some experimental results illustrating its efficiency.

An Efficient Method for Computing Exact State Space of Petri Nets With Stopwatches

In this paper, we address the issue of the formal verification of real-time systems in the context of a preemptive scheduling policy. We propose an algorithm which computes the state-space of the system, modeled as a time Petri net with stopwatches, exactly and efficiently, by the use of Difference Bounds Matrices (DBM) whenever possible and automatically switching to more time and memory consuming general (convex) polyhedra only when required. We propose a necessary and sufficient condition for the need of general polyhedra. We give experimental results comparing our implementation of the method to a full DBM over-approximation and to an exact computation with only general polyhedra.

Formal verification of timed systems: a survey and perspective

An overview of the current state of the art of formal verification of real-time systems is presented. We discuss commonly accepted models, specification languages, verification frameworks, state-space representation schemes, state-space construction procedures, reduction techniques, pioneering tools, and finally some new related issues. We also make a few comments according to our experience with verification tool design and implementation.

Object-oriented specification and formal verification of real-time systems

An object-oriented approach for specification and verification of real-time systems is described in this paper. It is motivated by taking advantage of object-oriented techniques to produce real-time software that is easy to understand, maintain, and reuse. The approach specifies the structural, behavioral, and control aspects of objects in one model with a textual representation as well as a graphical representation. For ease to comprehend and use, the model encapsulates object states and allows an analyst to focus on specifying object operations one at a time. System behavior from individual objects can be deduced and analyzed. For safety considerations, the approach supports specification of failures to object behavior and their resultant faults. The approach also supports modeling of timed temporal constraints for specifying and verifying desirable real-time properties. An object timed temporal logic OTTL is defined for expressing the syntax and semantics of these constraints. Decision procedures for their verification are also presented.