Domain-specific scenarios for refinement-based methods
Domain-specific scenarios for refinement-based methods
Formal methods use abstraction and rigorously verified refinement to manage the design of complex systems, ensuring that they satisfy important invariant properties. However, formal verification is not sufficient: models must also be tested to ensure that they behave according to the informal requirements and validated by domain experts who may not be expert in formal modelling. This can be satisfied by scenarios that complement the requirements specification. The model can be animated to check that the scenario is feasible in the model and that the model reaches states expected in the scenario. However, there are two problems with this approach. 1) The provided scenarios are at the most concrete level corresponding to the full requirements and cannot be used until all the refinements have been completed in the model. 2) The natural language used to describe the scenarios is often verbose, ambiguous and therefore difficult to understand; especially if the modeller is not a domain expert. In this paper we propose a method of abstracting scenarios from concrete ones so that they can be used to test early refinements of the model. We also show by example how a precise and concise domain specific language can be used for writing these abstract scenarios in a style that can be easily understood by the domain expert (for validation purposes) as well as the modeller (for behavioural verification). We base our approach on the Cucumber framework for scenarios and the Event-B modelling language and tool set. We illustrate the proposed methods on the ERTMS/ETCS Hybrid Level 3 specification for railway controls.
18-31
Snook, Colin
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Hoang, Thai Son
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Dghaym, Dana
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Butler, Michael
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Snook, Colin
b2055316-9f7a-4b31-8aa1-be0710046af2
Hoang, Thai Son
dcc0431d-2847-4e1d-9a85-54e4d6bab43f
Dghaym, Dana
b7b69fe2-c9ff-43ad-a6ba-8b41d6fd19fc
Butler, Michael
54b9c2c7-2574-438e-9a36-6842a3d53ed0
Snook, Colin, Hoang, Thai Son, Dghaym, Dana and Butler, Michael
(2019)
Domain-specific scenarios for refinement-based methods.
Attiogbe, C., Ferrarotti, F. and Maabout, S.
(eds.)
In DETECT 2019: moDeling, vErification and Testing of dEpendable CriTical systems.
Springer.
.
(doi:10.1007/978-3-030-32213-7_2).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Formal methods use abstraction and rigorously verified refinement to manage the design of complex systems, ensuring that they satisfy important invariant properties. However, formal verification is not sufficient: models must also be tested to ensure that they behave according to the informal requirements and validated by domain experts who may not be expert in formal modelling. This can be satisfied by scenarios that complement the requirements specification. The model can be animated to check that the scenario is feasible in the model and that the model reaches states expected in the scenario. However, there are two problems with this approach. 1) The provided scenarios are at the most concrete level corresponding to the full requirements and cannot be used until all the refinements have been completed in the model. 2) The natural language used to describe the scenarios is often verbose, ambiguous and therefore difficult to understand; especially if the modeller is not a domain expert. In this paper we propose a method of abstracting scenarios from concrete ones so that they can be used to test early refinements of the model. We also show by example how a precise and concise domain specific language can be used for writing these abstract scenarios in a style that can be easily understood by the domain expert (for validation purposes) as well as the modeller (for behavioural verification). We base our approach on the Cucumber framework for scenarios and the Event-B modelling language and tool set. We illustrate the proposed methods on the ERTMS/ETCS Hybrid Level 3 specification for railway controls.
Text
DETECT2019
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 16 July 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 16 October 2019
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 432768
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432768
ISSN: 1865-0929
PURE UUID: 6a4f59ee-1f48-43c1-9f5c-fdd17a397141
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Date deposited: 26 Jul 2019 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:42
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Contributors
Author:
Colin Snook
Author:
Thai Son Hoang
Author:
Dana Dghaym
Author:
Michael Butler
Editor:
C. Attiogbe
Editor:
F. Ferrarotti
Editor:
S. Maabout
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