Explicit-enumeration based verification made memory-efficient

Abstract

We investigate new techniques for reducing the memory requirements of an on-the-fly model checking tool that employs explicit einumeration. Two techniques are studied in depth: exploiting symmetries in the model, and exploiting sequential regions in the model. These techniques can result in a significant reduction in memory requirements, and often find progress violations at much lower stack depths. Both techniques have been implemented as part of the SPIN verifier, a widely used on-the-fly model-checking tool.

The model checker SPIN

“…Examples in each category may be found in the proceedings of the SPIN Workshops that have been held since 1995 [68]. Examples of modifications of the SPIN software, for instance, include extensions for real-time verification [74], reactive systems modeling [54], bisimulation equivalence proofs [21], different types of partial order reduction [27], [76], process algebras [24], alternate state machine models [69], alternate compression techniques [79], [29], [28], [45], and implementation generation [5], [51].…”

Symmetry in temporal logic model checking

“…A canonicalization function is suggested, again within the context SPIN [Nalumasu and Gopalakrishnan 1995], for systems with any (user-defined) symmetry. Though less restrictive than the scalar-set approach (full symmetry is not required and more general operations on permutable variables are permitted), a unique canonicalization function must be constructed manually by the modeler for every individual model, thereby limiting the applicability of the method.…”

Automatic Symmetry Detection for Promela

“…In most cases where symmetry reduction is used in model checking, the user is required to manually specify the symmetry present in a model [6,35]. However this is error-prone and is only realistic in cases where there is full symmetry, i.e.…”

“…Most approaches to symmetry reduction in model checking require the user to manually specify the symmetry to be exploited, either directly [6,27,35] or by annotating the specification using additional keywords [2,30]. This approach is errorprone and requires the user to have an in-depth knowledge of symmetry reduction theory.…”