Trylock, a case for temporal logic and eternity variables

An example is given of a software algorithm that implements its specification in linear time temporal logic (LTL), but not in branching time temporal logic (CTL). In LTL, a prophecy of future behaviour is needed to prove the simulation. Eternity variables are used for this purpose. The final phase of the proof is a refinement mapping in which two threads exchange roles. The example is a software implementation of trylock in a variation of the fast mutual exclusion algorithm of Lamport (1987). It has been used fruitfully for the construction of software algorithms for high performance mutual exclusion

NFK: a novel fault-tolerant K-mutual exclusion algorithm for mobile and opportunistic ad hoc networks

[EN] This paper presents a fault-tolerant algorithm ensuring multiple resources sharing in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) that is able to handle the known K-mutual exclusion problem in such mobile environments. The proposed algorithm relies on a token-based strategy, and requires information about resources and their use to be carried in routing protocol control messages. This way, our solution avoids any additional exchange of messages. Furthermore, experimental results show that it offers a fast response time. Moreover, we introduce a dual-layer fault-tolerance mechanism that tolerates the faults of several sites at the same time without affecting the well functioning of the system. Simulation results also evidence the high efficiency of our proposal, which achieves reduced overhead and response delay even in the presence of critical situations where multiple simultaneous faults occur.Allaoui, T.; Yagoubi, MB.; Kerrache, CA.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM. (2019). NFK: a novel fault-tolerant K-mutual exclusion algorithm for mobile and opportunistic ad hoc networks. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology. 15(2):176-197. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJICT.2019.102479S17619715

Computer Aided Verification of Lamport's Fast Mutual Exclusion Algorithm - Using Coloured Petri Nets and Occurrence Graphs with Symmetries

In this paper, we present a new computer tool for verification of distributed systems. As an example, we establish the correctness of Lamport's Fast Mutual Exclusion Algorithm. The tool implements the method of occurrence graphs with symmetries (OS-graphs) for Coloured Petri Nets(CP-nets). The basic idea in the approach is to exploit the symmetries inherent in many distributed systems to construct a condensed state space. We demonstrate a signigicant increase in the number of states which can be analysed. The paper is to a large extent self-contained and does not assume any prior knowledge of CP-nets (or any other kinds of Petri Nets) or OS-graphs. CP-nets and OS-graphs are not our invention. Our contribution is development of the tool and verification of the example.Index Terms: Modelling and Analysis of Distributed Systems, Formal Verification, Coloured Petri Nets, High-Level Petri Nets, Occurrence Graphs, State Spaces, Symmetries, Mutual Exclusion

Efficient Symmetry Reduction and the Use of State Symmetries for Symbolic Model Checking

One technique to reduce the state-space explosion problem in temporal logic model checking is symmetry reduction. The combination of symmetry reduction and symbolic model checking by using BDDs suffered a long time from the prohibitively large BDD for the orbit relation. Dynamic symmetry reduction calculates representatives of equivalence classes of states dynamically and thus avoids the construction of the orbit relation. In this paper, we present a new efficient model checking algorithm based on dynamic symmetry reduction. Our experiments show that the algorithm is very fast and allows the verification of larger systems. We additionally implemented the use of state symmetries for symbolic symmetry reduction. To our knowledge we are the first who investigated state symmetries in combination with BDD based symbolic model checking

Synthesis of Parametric Programs using Genetic Programming and Model Checking

Formal methods apply algorithms based on mathematical principles to enhance the reliability of systems. It would only be natural to try to progress from verification, model checking or testing a system against its formal specification into constructing it automatically. Classical algorithmic synthesis theory provides interesting algorithms but also alarming high complexity and undecidability results. The use of genetic programming, in combination with model checking and testing, provides a powerful heuristic to synthesize programs. The method is not completely automatic, as it is fine tuned by a user that sets up the specification and parameters. It also does not guarantee to always succeed and converge towards a solution that satisfies all the required properties. However, we applied it successfully on quite nontrivial examples and managed to find solutions to hard programming challenges, as well as to improve and to correct code. We describe here several versions of our method for synthesizing sequential and concurrent systems.Comment: In Proceedings INFINITY 2013, arXiv:1402.661