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Verification tools for finite-state concurrent systems

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Book cover A Decade of Concurrency Reflections and Perspectives (REX 1993)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 803))

Abstract

Temporal logic model checking is an automatic technique for verifying finite-state concurrent systems. Specifications are expressed in a propositional temporal logic, and the concurrent system is modeled as a state-transition graph. An efficient search procedure is used to determine whether or not the state-transition graph satisfies the specification. When the technique was first developed ten years ago, it was only possible to handle concurrent systems with a few thousand states. In the last few years, however, the size of the concurrent systems that can be handled has increased dramatically. By representing transition relations and sets of states implicitly using binary decision diagrams, it is now possible to check concurrent systems with more than 10120 states. In this paper we describe in detail how the new implementation works and give realistic examples to illustrate its power. We also discuss a number of directions for future research. The necessary background information on binary decision diagrams, temporal logic, and model checking has been included in order to make the exposition as self-contained as possible.

This research was sponsored in part by the Avionics Laboratory, Wright Research and Development Center, Aeronautical Systems Division (AFSC), U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433-6543 under Contract F33615-90-C-1465, ARPA Order No. 7597 and in part by the National Science foundation under Grant No. CCR-9217549 and in part by the Semiconductor Research Corporation under Contract 92-DJ-294. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied of the U.S. government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh

    E. Clarke

  2. The Technion, Haifa

    O. Grumberg

  3. AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill

    D. Long

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  1. E. Clarke
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  2. O. Grumberg
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J. W. de Bakker W. -P. de Roever G. Rozenberg

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Clarke, E., Grumberg, O., Long, D. (1994). Verification tools for finite-state concurrent systems. In: de Bakker, J.W., de Roever, W.P., Rozenberg, G. (eds) A Decade of Concurrency Reflections and Perspectives. REX 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 803. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58043-3_19

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