Design of a PLC Control Program for a Batch Plant VHS Case Study 1

Mader, Angelika; Brinksma, Ed; Wupper, H; Bauer, Nanette

doi:10.3166/ejc.7.416-439

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…They indicated that it is more preferable to adopt the second approach since it is more modular and simpler. However, in the future work by Mader et al [77], they have chosen to use Promela models instead of Timed Automata when performing model checking on an industrial case study. Interestingly, this study is also one of the few studies where SPIN is used in PLC program verification rather than SMV or UPPAAL.…”

Section: Model Checking Textual Plc Programsmentioning

confidence: 98%

An overview of model checking practices on verification of PLC software

et al. 2014

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Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are heavily used in industrial control systems, because of their high capacity of simultaneous input/output processing capabilities. Characteristically, PLC systems are used in mission critical systems, and PLC software needs to conform real-time constraints in order to work properly. Since PLC programming requires mastering low-level instructions or assembly like languages, an important step in PLC software production is modelling using a formal approach like Petri nets or automata. Afterward, PLC software is produced semiautomatically from the model and refined iteratively. Model checking, on the other hand, is a well-known software verification approach, where typically a set of timed properties are verified by exploring the transition system produced from the software model at hand. Naturally, model checking is applied in a variety of ways to verify the correctness of PLC-based software. In this paper, we provide a broad view about the difficulties that are encountered during the model checking process applied at the verification phase of PLC software production. We classify the approaches from two different perCommunicated by Prof. Einar Broch Johnsen and Luigia Petre. spectives: first, the model checking approach/tool used in the verification process, and second, the software model/source code and its transformation to model checker's specification language. In a nutshell, we have mainly examined SPIN, SMV, and UPPAAL-based model checking activities and model construction using Instruction Lists (and alike), Function Block Diagrams, and Petri nets/automata-based model construction activities. As a result of our studies, we provide a comparison among the studies in the literature regarding various aspects like their application areas, performance considerations, and model checking processes. Our survey can be used to provide guidance for the scholars and practitioners planning to integrate model checking to PLC-based software verification activities.

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Section: Model Checking Textual Plc Programsmentioning

confidence: 98%

An overview of model checking practices on verification of PLC software

et al. 2014

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“…In this paper we report on the use of the SPIN model checker for both the verification of a process control program for the given plant and the derivation of optimal control schedules. It is a companion paper to [12], which concentrates on the correct design of the process controller. The intention of our approach was to see how much could be achieved here using the standard model checking environment of SPIN/Promela [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rest of this paper is organised as follows: section 2 gives a description of the batch plant, the nature of PLCs and a description of the control program that was systematically designed in [12]. Section 3 describes the Promela models for the plant and the control process, and their use for the formal verification and optimization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verification and Optimization of a PLC Control Schedule

Brinksma

Mader

2000

SPIN Model Checking and Software Verification

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We report on the use of the SPIN model checker for both the verification of a process control program and the derivation of optimal control schedules. This work was carried out as part of a case study for the EC VHS project (Verification of Hybrid Systems), in which the program for a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) of an experimental chemical plant had to be designed and verified. The intention of our approach was to see how much could be achieved here using the standard model checking environment of SPIN/Promela. As the symbolic calculations of real-time model checkers can be quite expensive it is interesting to try and exploit the efficiency of established non-real-time model checkers like SPIN in those cases where promising work-arounds seem to exist. In our case we handled the relevant real-time properties of the PLC controller using a time-abstraction technique; for the scheduling we implemented in Promela a so-called variable time advance procedure. For this case study these techniques proved sufficient to verify the design of the controller and derive (time-)optimal schedules with reasonable time and space requirements.

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“…In [30,11] we report on the use of the model checker SPIN [36] to the verification and optimization of a controller for this plant. SPIN is a state-of-the-art model checker.…”

Section: Example: Verification and Optimization Of A Controllermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In [30] we showed how a controller that was designed by careful analysis of the plant could be verified using this model. Because SPIN supports LTL model checking this could be done by verifying a formula that states that a state in which a batch is produced is reached infinitely often.…”

Section: Example: Verification and Optimization Of A Controllermentioning

confidence: 99%

Model checking embedded system designs

Brinksma

Mader

Sixth International Workshop on Discrete Event Systems, 2002. Proceedings.

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Design of a PLC Control Program for a Batch Plant VHS Case Study 1

Cited by 5 publications

References 11 publications

An overview of model checking practices on verification of PLC software

An overview of model checking practices on verification of PLC software

Verification and Optimization of a PLC Control Schedule

Model checking embedded system designs

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