Automated Translation of Event-B Models to SPARK Proof Annotations

Abstract

Ensuring and verifying the properties of safety- and security-critical software is paramount. Event-B is a modelling language which enables the design of
systems, using mathematical proofs ensuring the conformity of the system to
declared safety requirements. SPARK is a programming language making use of static analysis tools which verify written code correctly implements the properties of the system as specified in the form of written proof annotations. SPARK has been used in many industry-scale projects to implement safety-critical software.Manually writing SPARK proof annotations can be time-consuming and tedious. The aim of this project was to create a tool, in the form of a Rodin plug-in, to translate an Event-B model into a set of SPARK specifications in a SPARK specification file, in the form of proof annotations and other structures, from which SPARK code written can be verified together with, hence ensuring the correct behaviour of the software. A background literature review was conducted to find related works, to help guide the approach to this project. The common forms of a lot of predicates in Event-B, such as those involving set operations, had no direct counterpart in SPARK. Hence, an extra file in SPARK containing function definitions for common Event-B predicates was written. Using these function definitions, a set of translation rules from Event-B predicates to SPARK code was compiled, along with other translation rules for the making of other SPARK constructs which were needed in the specification file. Using these conceptual rules, the plug-in was created in Eclipse as an Eclipse plug-in to run on the Rodin target platform. Finally, this plug-in was tested with several Event-B models to ensure that the generated code was the same as the expected code.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Thai Son Hoang: orcid.org/0000-0003-4095-0732

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