Rob van Glabbeek

Bio: Rob van Glabbeek is an academic researcher from University of New South Wales. The author has contributed to research in topics: Process calculus & Petri net. The author has an hindex of 35, co-authored 189 publications receiving 6610 citations. Previous affiliations of Rob van Glabbeek include Stanford University & Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica.

The Linear Time - Branching Time Spectrum II

Abstract: This paper studies semantic equivalences and preorders for sequential systems with silent moves, restricting attention to the ones that abstract from successful termination, stochastic and real-time aspects of the investigated systems, and the structure of the visible actions systems can perform. It provides a parameterized definition of such a preorder, such that most such preorders and equivalences found in the literature are obtained by a suitable instantiation of the parameters. Other instantiations yield preorders that combine properties from various semantics. Moreover, the approach shows several ways in which preorders that were originally only considered for systems without silent moves, most notably the ready simulation, can be generalized to an abstract setting, and how preorders that were originally only considered for for systems without divergence, such as the coupled simulation, can be extended to divergent systems. All preorders come with—or rather as—a modal characterization, and when possible also a relational characterization. The paper concludes with some pros and cons of the preorders.

Branching time and abstraction in bisimulation semantics

Abstract: In comparative concurrency semantics, one usually distinguishes between linear time and branching time semantic equivalences. Milner's notion of observatin equivalence is often mentioned as the standard example of a branching time equivalence. In this paper we investigate whether observation equivalence really does respect the branching structure of processes, and find that in the presence of the unobservable action t of CCS this is not the case.Therefore, the notion of branching bisimulation equivalence is introduced which strongly preserves the branching structure of processes, in the sense that it preserves computations together with the potentials in all intermediate states that are passed through, even if silent moves are involved. On closed CCS-terms branching bisimulation congruence can be completely axiomatized by the single axion scheme: a.(t.(y+z)+y)=a.(y+z) (where a ranges over all actions) and the usual loaws for strong congruence.We also establish that for sequential processes observation equivalence is not preserved under refinement of actions, whereas branching bisimulation is.For a large class of processes, it turns out that branching bisimulation and observation equivalence are the same. As far as we know, all protocols that have been verified in the setting of observation equivalence happen to fit in this class, and hence are also valid in the stronger setting of branching bisimulation equivalence.

Petri net models for algebraic theories of concurrency

Abstract: In this paper we discuss the issue of interleaving semantics versus True concurrency in an algebraic setting. We present various equivalence notions on Petri nets which can be used in the construction of algebraic models: (a) the occurrence net equivalence of Nielsen, Plotkin & Winskel; (b) bisimulation equivalence, which leads to a model which is isomorphic to the graph model of Baeten, Bergstra & Klop; (c) the concurrent bisimulation equivalence, which is also described by Nielsen & Thiagarajan, and Goltz; (d) partial order equivalences which are inspired by work of Pratt, and Boudol & Castellani.

Principles of Model Checking

Abstract: 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.

Model Driven Engineering

Abstract: The Object Management Group's (OMG) Model Driven Architecture (MDA) strategy envisages a world where models play a more direct role in software production, being amenable to manipulation and transformation by machine. Model Driven Engineering (MDE) is wider in scope than MDA. MDE combines process and analysis with architecture. This article sets out a framework for model driven engineering, which can be used as a point of reference for activity in this area. It proposes an organisation of the modelling 'space' and how to locate models in that space. It discusses different kinds of mappings between models. It explains why process and architecture are tightly connected. It discusses the importance and nature of tools. It identifies the need for defining families of languages and transformations, and for developing techniques for generating/configuring tools from such definitions. It concludes with a call to align metamodelling with formal language engineering techniques.

Universal coalgebra: a theory of systems

Abstract: In the semantics of programming, finite data types such as finite lists, have traditionally been modelled by initial algebras. Later final coalgebras were used in order to deal with infinite data types. Coalgebras, which are the dual of algebras, turned out to be suited, moreover, as models for certain types of automata and more generally, for (transition and dynamical) systems. An important property of initial algebras is that they satisfy the familiar principle of induction. Such a principle was missing for coalgebras until the work of Aczel (1988) on a theory of non-wellfounded sets, in which he introduced a proof principle nowadays called coinduction. It was formulated in terms of bisimulation, a notion originally stemming from the world of concurrent programming languages (Milner, 1980; Park, 1981). Using the notion of coalgebra homomorphism, the definition of bisimulation on coalgebras can be shown to be formally dual to that of congruence on algebras (Aczel and Mendler, 1989). Thus the three basic notions of universal algebra: algebra, homomorphism of algebras, and congruence, turn out to correspond to: coalgebra, homomorphism of coalgebras, and bisimulation, respectively. In this paper, the latter are taken as the basic ingredients of a theory called universal coalgebra. Some standard results from universal algebra are reformulated (using the afore mentioned correspondence) and proved for a large class of coalgebras, leading to a series of results on, e.g., the lattices of subcoalgebras and bisimulations, simple coalgebras and coinduction, and a covariety theorem for coalgebras similar to Birkhoff's variety theorem.