Our growing dependence on increasingly complex computer and software systems necessitates the development of formalisms, techniques, and tools for assessing functional properties of these systems. One such technique that has emerged in the last twenty years is model checking, which systematically (and automatically) checks whether a model of a given system satisfies a desired property such as deadlock freedom, invariants, and request-response properties. This automated technique for verification and debugging has developed into a mature and widely used approach with many applications. Principles of Model Checking offers a comprehensive introduction to model checking that is not only a text suitable for classroom use but also a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners in the field. The book begins with the basic principles for modeling concurrent and communicating systems, introduces different classes of properties (including safety and liveness), presents the notion of fairness, and provides automata-based algorithms for these properties. It introduces the temporal logics LTL and CTL, compares them, and covers algorithms for verifying these logics, discussing real-time systems as well as systems subject to random phenomena. Separate chapters treat such efficiency-improving techniques as abstraction and symbolic manipulation. The book includes an extensive set of examples (most of which run through several chapters) and a complete set of basic results accompanied by detailed proofs. Each chapter concludes with a summary, bibliographic notes, and an extensive list of exercises of both practical and theoretical nature.

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Principles of Model Checking

N G van Kampen 1981 Amsterdam: North-Holland xiv + 419 pp price Dfl 180 This is a book which, at a lower price, could be expected to become an essential part of the library of every physical scientist concerned with problems involving fluctuations and stochastic processes, as well as those who just enjoy a beautifully written book. It provides an extensive graduate-level introduction which is clear, cautious, interesting and readable.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-9112/34/4/040/pdf

Stochastic Processes in Physics and Chemistry

This paper describes a major new release of the PRISMprobabilistic model checker, adding, in particular, quantitative verification of (priced) probabilistic timed automata. These model systems exhibiting probabilistic, nondeterministic and real-time characteristics. In many application domains, all three aspects are essential; this includes, for example, embedded controllers in automotive or avionic systems, wireless communication protocols such as Bluetooth or Zigbee, and randomised security protocols. PRISM, which is open-source, also contains several new components that are of independent use. These include: an extensible toolkit for building, verifying and refining abstractions of probabilistic models; an explicit-state probabilistic model checking library; a discrete-event simulation engine for statistical model checking; support for generation of optimal adversaries/strategies; and a benchmark suite.

http://www.prismmodelchecker.org/papers/cav11.pdf

PRISM 4.0: verification of probabilistic real-time systems

This paper presents the overal structure, the design criteria, and the main features of the tool box Uppaal. It gives a detailed user guide which describes how to use the various tools of Uppaal version 2.02 to construct abstract models of a real-time system, to simulate its dynamical behavior, to specify and verify its safety and bounded liveness properties in terms of its model. In addition, the paper also provides a short review on case-studies where Uppaal is applied, as well as references to its theoretical foundation.

UPPAAL in a Nutshell

Real and Complex Analysis

This paper presents a wp---style calculus for obtaining bounds on the expected run---time of probabilistic programs. Its application includes determining the possibly infinite expected termination time of a probabilistic program and proving positive almost---sure termination--does a program terminate with probability one in finite expected time? We provide several proof rules for bounding the run---time of loops, and prove the soundness of the approach with respect to a simple operational model. We show that our approach is a conservative extension of Nielson's approach for reasoning about the run---time of deterministic programs. We analyze the expected run---time of some example programs including a one---dimensional random walk and the coupon collector problem.

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Weakest Precondition Reasoning for Expected Run---Times of Probabilistic Programs

Markov-reward models, as extensions of continuous-time Markov chains, have received increased attention for the specification and evaluation of performance and dependability properties of systems. Until now, however, the specification of reward-based performance and dependability measures has been done manually and informally. In this paper, we change this undesirable situation by the introduction of a continuous-time, reward-based stochastic logic. We argue that this logic is adequate for expressing performability measures of a large variety. We isolate two important sub-logics, the logic CSL [1, 3], and the novel logic CRL that allows one to express reward-based properties. These logics turn out to be complementary, which is formally established in our main duality theorem. This result implies that reward-based properties expressed in CRL for a particular Markov reward model can be interpreted as CSL properties over a derived continuous-time Markov chain, so that model checking procedures for CSL [3, 2] can be employed.

On the Logical Characterisation of Performability Properties

Testing of Finite State Machines.- I. Testing of Finite State Machines.- 1 Homing and Synchronizing Sequences.- 2 State Identification.- 3 State Verification.- 4 Conformance Testing.- II. Testing of Labeled Transition Systems.- Testing of Labeled Transition Systems.- 5 Preorder Relations.- 6 Test Generation Algorithms Based on Preorder Relations.- 7 I/O-automata Based Testing.- 8 Test Derivation from Timed Automata.- 9 Testing Theory for Probabilistic Systems.- III. Model-Based Test Case Generation.- Model-Based Test Case Generation.- 10 Methodological Issues in Model-Based Testing.- 11 Evaluating Coverage Based Testing.- 12 Technology of Test-Case Generation.- 13 Real-Time and Hybrid Systems Testing.- IV. Tools and Case Studies.- Tools and Case Studies.- 14 Tools for Test Case Generation.- 15 Case Studies.- V. Standardized Test Notation and Execution Architecture.- Standardized Test Notation and Execution Architecture.- 16 TTCN-3.- 17 UML 2.0 Testing Profile.- VI. Beyond Testing.- Beyond Testing.- 18 Run-Time Verification.- 19 Model Checking.- VII. Appendices.- Appendices.- 20 Model-Based Testing - A Glossary.- 21 Finite State Machines.- 22 Labelled Transition Systems.

Model-Based Testing of Reactive Systems, Advanced Lectures

Markov chains are widely used in the context of performance and reliability evaluation of systems of various nature. Model checking of such chains with respect to a given (branching) temporal logic formula has been proposed for both the discrete and the continuous time setting. In this paper, we describe a prototype model checker for discrete and continuous-time Markov chains, the Erlangen-Twente Markov Chain Checker (E ⊢ MC2), where properties are expressed in appropriate extensions of CTL. We illustrate the general benefits of this approach and discuss the structure of the tool. Furthermore we report on first successful applications of the tool to non-trivial examples, highlighting lessons learned during development and application of E ⊢ MC2.

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A Markov Chain Model Checker

This paper proposes a novel abstraction technique for continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs). Our technique fits within the realm of three-valued abstraction methods that have been used successfully for traditional model checking. The key idea is to apply abstraction on uniform CTMCs that are readily obtained from general CTMCs, and to abstract transition probabilities by intervals. It is shown that this provides a conservative abstraction for both true and false for a three-valued semantics of the branching-time logic CSL (Continuous Stochastic Logic). Experiments on an infinite-state CTMC indicate the feasibility of our abstraction technique.

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Joost-Pieter Katoen

Papers

Weakest Precondition Reasoning for Expected Run---Times of Probabilistic Programs

On the Logical Characterisation of Performability Properties

Model-Based Testing of Reactive Systems, Advanced Lectures

A Markov Chain Model Checker

Three-valued abstraction for continuous-time Markov chains