Judi Romijn

Minimum-Cost Reachability for Priced Time Automata

This paper introduces the model of linearly priced timed automata as an extension of timed automata, with prices on both transitions and locations. For this model we consider the minimum-cost reachability problem: i.e. given a linearly priced timed automaton and a target state, determine the minimum cost of executions from the initial state to the target state. This problem generalizes the minimum-time reachability problem for ordinary timed automata. We prove decidability of this problem by offering an algorithmic solution, which is based on a combination of branch-and-bound techniques and a new notion of priced regions. The latter allows symbolic representation and manipulation of reachable states together with the cost of reaching them.

As Cheap as Possible: Efficient Cost-Optimal Reachability for Priced Timed Automata

In this paper we present an algorithm for efficiently computing optimal cost of reaching a goal state in the model of Linearly Priced Timed Automata (LPTA). The central contribution of this paper is a priced extension of so-called zones. This, together with a notion of facets of a zone, allows the entire machinery for symbolic reachability for timed automata in terms of zones to be lifted to cost-optimal reachability using priced zones. We report on experiments with a cost-optimizing extension of Uppaal on a number of examples.

Verification of a Leader Election Protocol: Formal Methods Applied to IEEE 1394

The IEEE 1394 high performance serial multimedia bus protocol allows several components to communicate with each other at high speed. In this paper we present a formal model and verification of a leader election algorithm that forms the core of the tree identify phase of the physical layer of the 1394 protocol.We describe the algorithm formally in the I/O automata model of Lynch and Tuttle, and verify that for an arbitrary tree topology exactly one leader is elected. A large part of our verification has been checked mechanically with PVS, a verification system for higher-order logic.

A timed verification of the IEEE 1394 leader election protocol

The IEEE 1394 architecture standard defines a high performance serial multimedia bus that allows several components in a network to communicate with each other at high speed. In the physical layer of the architecture, a leader election protocol is used to find a spanning tree with a unique root in the network topology. If there is a cycle in the network, the protocol treats this as an error situation. This paper presents a formal model of the leader election protocol in the language IOA and a correctness proof. Hereby, it is shown that under certain timing restrictions the protocol behaves correctly. The timing parameters in the IEEE 1394 standard documentation obey the restrictions found in this proof.

Linear Parametric Model Checking of Timed Automata

We present an extension of the model checker UPPAAL capable of synthesize linear parameter constraints for the correctness of parametric timed automata. The symbolic representation of the (parametric) state-space is shown to be correct. A second contribution of this paper is the identification of a subclass of parametric timed automata (L/U automata), for which the emptiness problem is decidable, contrary to the full class where it is know to be undecidable. Also we present a number of lemmas enabling the verification effort to be reduced for L/U automata in some cases. We illustrate our approach by deriving linear parameter constraints for a number of well-known case studies from the literature (exhibiting a flaw in a published paper).

IEEE 1394 Tree Identify Protocol: Introduction to the Case Study

Abstract. We introduce a comparative case study on the application of formal methods and techniques to the Tree Identify Protocol of the IEEE standard 1394 serial multimedia bus. The Tree Identify Protocol makes an ideal subject for this purpose because it is small yet complex, and may be modelled in a variety of ways. We provide an informal explanation of the protocol, describe how the case study was conducted, and give an overview of the results.