Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are applied in a wide field of application and, especially, for safetycritical controls. Thus, there is the demand for high reliability of PLCs. Moreover, the increasing complexity of the PLC programs and the short time-to-market are hard to cope with. Formal verification techniques such as model checking allow for proving whether a PLC program meets its specification. However, the manual formalization of PLC programs is error-prone and time-consuming. This paper presents a novel approach to apply model checking to machine controls. The PLC program is modeled in form of Unified Modeling Language (UML) statecharts that serve as the input to our tool that automatically generates a corresponding formal model for the model checker NuSMV. We evaluate the capabilities of the proposed approach on an industrial machine control

The correct designing of today's logistic systems has become an increasingly cumbersome process, especially due to their growing sizes and heterogeneities. While simulation methods provide a means to validate the functional behaviour of logistic systems, formal methods allow for proving that the system completely fulfills its specification. This paper presents a novel approach to the formal verification of material handling systems, which is based on setting up material handling system elements that are proven to be correct. The application of the approach is shown using an illustrative example

The development of correctly working logistic systems is a tedious task. On the one hand, the developer is faced with the increasing complexity of systems and shrinking time-to-markets, but on the other hand, the need for reliability and safety of the implemented controls becomes more and more important. Formal verification techniques such as model checking allow for proving whether a system completely fulfills its specification. Existing work, though, considered only the verification of single controllers, but did not analyze the behavior of a complete logistic system. In this paper, an approach to the formal verification of material handling systems is presented. The approach is based on the definition of material handling system elements and their interconnection. Experimental results show that the approach can ensure the correct functionality of logistic systems

The correct design of complex material handling systems (MHS) is a challenging task, mainly because of short development cycles and ever increasing system sizes. For baggage handling systems (BHS) at airports, the correct design of routing strategies is of special importance, as these strategies are non-trivial but safety-critical. This paper presents a novel approach to prove the correctness of routing in MHS. The approach is based on assume-guarantee reasoning which allows to derive proofs of the overall system using a divide and conquer strategy. The proposed approach is automated and has been implemented in a tool. The application of the approach is shown using a real-world BHS

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