The Development and Deployment of Formal Methods in the UK

Jones, Cliff B.; Thomas, Martyn

doi:10.1145/3522577

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Especially automated verification techniques based on formal methods are promising candidates (Baier and Katoen 2008;Grumberg and Veith 2008;Clarke et al 2018a, b) to ensure the functional safety, for instance, of automotive systems. Even though the use of formal methods is considered to be a promising solution, industries are still hesitant to use it for real-world projects due to its complexity (Heitmeyer 1998;Abrial 2006;Bicarregui et al 2009;Kossak et al 2014;Jones and Thomas 2022;Ferrari and ter Beek 2023). To adopt formal methods in industry, usability and learnability are key factors Reid et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A user study for evaluation of formal verification results and their explanation at Bosch

Kaleeswaran,

Nordmann,

Vogel

et al. 2023

Empir Software Eng

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Context Ensuring safety for any sophisticated system is getting more complex due to the rising number of features and functionalities. This calls for formal methods to entrust confidence in such systems. Nevertheless, using formal methods in industry is demanding because of their lack of usability and the difficulty of understanding verification results. Objective We evaluate the acceptance of formal methods by Bosch automotive engineers, particularly whether the difficulty of understanding verification results can be reduced. Method We perform two different exploratory studies. First, we conduct a user survey to explore challenges in identifying inconsistent specifications and using formal methods by Bosch automotive engineers. Second, we perform a one-group pretest-posttest experiment to collect impressions from Bosch engineers familiar with formal methods to evaluate whether understanding verification results is simplified by our counterexample explanation approach. Results The results from the user survey indicate that identifying refinement inconsistencies, understanding formal notations, and interpreting verification results are challenging. Nevertheless, engineers are still interested in using formal methods in real-world development processes because it could reduce the manual effort for verification. Additionally, they also believe formal methods could make the system safer. Furthermore, the one-group pretest-posttest experiment results indicate that engineers are more comfortable understanding the counterexample explanation than the raw model checker output. Limitations The main limitation of this study is the generalizability beyond the target group of Bosch automotive engineers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A user study for evaluation of formal verification results and their explanation at Bosch

Kaleeswaran,

Nordmann,

Vogel

et al. 2023

Empir Software Eng

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Even though the use of formal methods is considered to be a promising solution, industries are still hesitant to use it for real-world projects due to its complexity (Heitmeyer 1998;Abrial 2006;Bicarregui et al 2009;Kossak et al 2014;Jones and Thomas 2022;Ferrari and ter Beek 2023). To adopt formal methods in industry, usability and learnability are key factors (ter Reid et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A User-Study Protocol for Evaluation of Formal Verification Results and their Explanation

Kaleeswaran¹,

Nordmann²,

Vogel³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Context: Ensuring safety for any sophisticated system is getting more complex due to the rising number of features and functionalities. This calls for formal methods to entrust confidence in such systems. Nevertheless, using formal methods in industry is demanding because of their lack of usability and the difficulty of understanding verification results. Objective: We evaluate the acceptance of formal methods by Bosch automotive engineers, particularly whether the difficulty of understanding verification results can be reduced. Method: We perform two different exploratory studies. First, we conduct a user survey to explore challenges in identifying inconsistent specifications and using formal methods by Bosch automotive engineers. Second, we perform a one-group pretest-posttest experiment to collect impressions from Bosch engineers familiar with formal methods to evaluate whether understanding verification results is simplified by our counterexample explanation approach. Results: The results from the user survey indicate that identifying refinement inconsistencies, understanding formal notations, and interpreting verification results are challenging. Nevertheless, engineers are still interested in using formal methods in real-world development processes because it could reduce the manual effort for verification. Additionally, they also believe formal methods could make the system safer. Furthermore, the one-group pretestposttest experiment results indicate that engineers are more comfortable un-

show abstract

The Development and Deployment of Formal Methods in the UK

Cited by 2 publications

References 64 publications

A user study for evaluation of formal verification results and their explanation at Bosch

A user study for evaluation of formal verification results and their explanation at Bosch

A User-Study Protocol for Evaluation of Formal Verification Results and their Explanation

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