Formal verification of run-to-completion style statecharts using Event-B
Formal verification of run-to-completion style statecharts using Event-B
Although popular in industry, state-chart notations with ‘run to completion’ semantics lack formal refinement and rigorous verification methods. State-chart models are typically used to design complex control systems that respond to environmental triggers with a sequential process. The model is usually constructed at a concrete level and verified and validated using animation techniques relying on human judgement. Event-B, on the other hand, is based on refinement from an initial abstraction and is designed to make formal verification by automatic theorem provers feasible. We introduce a notion of refinement into a ‘run to completion’ statechart modelling notation, and leverage Event-B ’s tool support for theorem proving. We describe the difficulties in translating ‘run to completion’ semantics into Event-B refinements and suggest a solution. We illustrate our approach and show how critical (e.g. safety) invariant properties can be verified by proof despite the reactive nature of the system. We also show how behavioural aspects of the system can be verified by testing the expected reactions using a temporal logic model checking approach.
Refinement, Run-to-completion, State-charts
311-325
Morris, Karla
b1823b83-c626-4ce2-aa5b-3a5fc8f0e1c2
Snook, Colin
b2055316-9f7a-4b31-8aa1-be0710046af2
Hoang, Thai Son
dcc0431d-2847-4e1d-9a85-54e4d6bab43f
Hulette, G.
fea06d59-b391-40e2-b72d-b8f219baa59d
Armstrong, Robert
1c7cc44d-c42b-4b26-aecc-d90e682fa203
Butler, Michael
54b9c2c7-2574-438e-9a36-6842a3d53ed0
2020
Morris, Karla
b1823b83-c626-4ce2-aa5b-3a5fc8f0e1c2
Snook, Colin
b2055316-9f7a-4b31-8aa1-be0710046af2
Hoang, Thai Son
dcc0431d-2847-4e1d-9a85-54e4d6bab43f
Hulette, G.
fea06d59-b391-40e2-b72d-b8f219baa59d
Armstrong, Robert
1c7cc44d-c42b-4b26-aecc-d90e682fa203
Butler, Michael
54b9c2c7-2574-438e-9a36-6842a3d53ed0
Morris, Karla, Snook, Colin, Hoang, Thai Son, Hulette, G., Armstrong, Robert and Butler, Michael
(2020)
Formal verification of run-to-completion style statecharts using Event-B.
Muccini, Henry, Franzago, Mirco, Avgeriou, Paris, Buhnova, Barbora, Camara, Javier, Caporuscio, Mauro, Koziolek, Anne, Scandurra, Patrizia, Trubiani, Catia, Weyns, Danny and Zdun, Uwe
(eds.)
In Software Architecture. ECSA 2020.: Communications in Computer and Information Science.
vol. 1269,
Springer Cham.
.
(doi:10.1007/978-3-030-59155-7_24).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Although popular in industry, state-chart notations with ‘run to completion’ semantics lack formal refinement and rigorous verification methods. State-chart models are typically used to design complex control systems that respond to environmental triggers with a sequential process. The model is usually constructed at a concrete level and verified and validated using animation techniques relying on human judgement. Event-B, on the other hand, is based on refinement from an initial abstraction and is designed to make formal verification by automatic theorem provers feasible. We introduce a notion of refinement into a ‘run to completion’ statechart modelling notation, and leverage Event-B ’s tool support for theorem proving. We describe the difficulties in translating ‘run to completion’ semantics into Event-B refinements and suggest a solution. We illustrate our approach and show how critical (e.g. safety) invariant properties can be verified by proof despite the reactive nature of the system. We also show how behavioural aspects of the system can be verified by testing the expected reactions using a temporal logic model checking approach.
Text
accepted copy
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 September 2020
Published date: 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy?s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.
Publisher Copyright:
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.
Venue - Dates:
14th European Conference, ECSA 2020 Tracks and Workshops, , L'Aquila, Italy, 2020-09-14 - 2020-09-18
Keywords:
Refinement, Run-to-completion, State-charts
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 443883
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/443883
PURE UUID: 405450df-12e8-4df6-a68f-8c79065755c4
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Date deposited: 16 Sep 2020 16:33
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:55
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Contributors
Author:
Karla Morris
Author:
Colin Snook
Author:
Thai Son Hoang
Author:
G. Hulette
Author:
Robert Armstrong
Author:
Michael Butler
Editor:
Henry Muccini
Editor:
Mirco Franzago
Editor:
Paris Avgeriou
Editor:
Barbora Buhnova
Editor:
Javier Camara
Editor:
Mauro Caporuscio
Editor:
Anne Koziolek
Editor:
Patrizia Scandurra
Editor:
Catia Trubiani
Editor:
Danny Weyns
Editor:
Uwe Zdun
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