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Counterexample Generation for Discrete-Time Markov Chains Using Bounded Model Checking

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Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation (VMCAI 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 5403))

Abstract

Since its introduction in 1999, bounded model checking has gained industrial relevance for detecting errors in digital and hybrid systems. One of the main reasons for this is that it always provides a counterexample when an erroneous execution trace is found. Such a counterexample can guide the designer while debugging the system.

In this paper we are investigating how bounded model checking can be applied to generate counterexamples for a different kind of model—namely discrete-time Markov chains. Since in this case counterexamples in general do not consist of a single path to a safety-critical state, but of a potentially large set of paths, novel optimization techniques like loop-detection are applied not only to speed-up the counterexample computation, but also to reduce the size of the counterexamples significantly. We report on some experiments which demonstrate the practical applicability of our method.

This work was partly supported by the German Research Council (DFG) as part of the Transregional Collaborative Research Center “Automatic Verification and Analysis of Complex Systems” (SFB/TR 14 AVACS). See www.avacs.org for more information.

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Wimmer, R., Braitling, B., Becker, B. (2008). Counterexample Generation for Discrete-Time Markov Chains Using Bounded Model Checking. In: Jones, N.D., Müller-Olm, M. (eds) Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation. VMCAI 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5403. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-93900-9_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-93900-9_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-93899-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-93900-9

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