Specification and Verification of the Tree Identify Protocol of IEEE 1394 in Rewriting Logic

Abstract.

We present three descriptions, at different abstract levels, of the tree identify protocol from the IEEE 1394 serial multimedia bus standard. The descriptions are given using the language Maude based on rewriting logic. Particularly, the time aspects of the protocol are studied. We prove the correctness of the protocol in two steps. First, the descriptions are validated by an exhaustive exploration of all the possible states reachable from an initial configuration of a network, checking that always only one leader is chosen. Then, we give a formal proof showing that the desirable properties of the protocol are always fulfilled by any network, provided that the network is connected and acyclic.