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A comparative study of two formal semantics of the SIGNAL language

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Abstract

SIGNAL is a part of the synchronous languages family, which are broadly used in the design of safety-critical real-time systems such as avionics, space systems, and nuclear power plants. There exist several semantics for SIGNAL, such as denotational semantics based on traces (called trace semantics), denotational semantics based on tags (called tagged model semantics), operational semantics presented by structural style through an inductive definition of the set of possible transitions, operational semantics defined by synchronous transition systems (STS), etc. However, there is little research about the equivalence between these semantics.

In this work, we would like to prove the equivalence between the trace semantics and the tagged model semantics, to get a determined and precise semantics of the SIGNAL language. These two semantics have several different definitions respectively, we select appropriate ones and mechanize them in the Coq platform, the Coq expressions of the abstract syntax of SIGNAL and the two semantics domains, i.e., the trace model and the tagged model, are also given. The distance between these two semantics discourages a direct proof of equivalence. Instead, we transformthem to an intermediate model, which mixes the features of both the trace semantics and the tagged model semantics. Finally, we get a determined and precise semantics of SIGNAL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Zhibin Yang

  2. IRIT-CNRS, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, 31062, France

    Zhibin Yang, Jean-Paul Bodeveix & Mamoun Filali

Authors
  1. Zhibin Yang
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  2. Jean-Paul Bodeveix
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  3. Mamoun Filali
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Additional information

Dr. Zhibin Yang received his PhD in Computer Science from Beihang University, China in February 2012. Since April 2012, he has been a Postdoc in IRIT of University of Toulouse, France. His research interests include safetycritical real-time system, formal verification, AADL, synchronous languages.

Dr. Jean-Paul Bodeveix received his PhD of Computer Science from the University of Paris-Sud 11 in 1989. He has been an assistant professor at University of Toulouse III since 1989 and is now a professor of computer science since 2003. His main research interests concern formal specifications, automated and assisted verification of protocols as well as of proof environments. He has participated in European and national projects related to these domains. His current activities are linked to real time modeling and verification either via model checking techniques or at the semantics level.

Dr. Mamoun Filali is a full time researcher at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). His main research interests concern the certified development of embedded systems. He is concerned by formal methods, model checking, and theorem proving. During the last years, he has been mainly involved in the French Nationwide TOPCASED Project where he was concerned by the verification topic. He has also participated to the proposal of the AADL behavioral annex which has been been adopted as part of the AADL SAE standard.

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Yang, Z., Bodeveix, JP. & Filali, M. A comparative study of two formal semantics of the SIGNAL language. Front. Comput. Sci. 7, 673–693 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11704-013-3908-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11704-013-3908-2

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