Asynchronous Announcements

We propose a multi-agent epistemic logic of asynchronous announcements, where truthful announcements are publicly sent but individually received by agents, and in the order in which they were sent. Additional to epistemic modalities the logic contains dynamic modalities for making announcements and for receiving them. What an agent believes is a function of her initial uncertainty and of the announcements she has received. Beliefs need not be truthful, because announcements already made may not yet have been received. As announcements are true when sent, certain message sequences can be ruled out, just like inconsistent cuts in distributed computing. We provide a complete axiomatization for this \emph{asynchronous announcement logic} (AA). It is a reduction system that also demonstrates that any formula in $AA$ is equivalent to one without dynamic modalities, just as for public announcement logic. The model checking complexity is in PSPACE. A detailed example modelling message exchanging processes in distributed computing in $AA$ closes our investigation

An Automata-Theoretic Approach to the Verification of Distributed Algorithms

We introduce an automata-theoretic method for the verification of distributed algorithms running on ring networks. In a distributed algorithm, an arbitrary number of processes cooperate to achieve a common goal (e.g., elect a leader). Processes have unique identifiers (pids) from an infinite, totally ordered domain. An algorithm proceeds in synchronous rounds, each round allowing a process to perform a bounded sequence of actions such as send or receive a pid, store it in some register, and compare register contents wrt. the associated total order. An algorithm is supposed to be correct independently of the number of processes. To specify correctness properties, we introduce a logic that can reason about processes and pids. Referring to leader election, it may say that, at the end of an execution, each process stores the maximum pid in some dedicated register. Since the verification of distributed algorithms is undecidable, we propose an underapproximation technique, which bounds the number of rounds. This is an appealing approach, as the number of rounds needed by a distributed algorithm to conclude is often exponentially smaller than the number of processes. We provide an automata-theoretic solution, reducing model checking to emptiness for alternating two-way automata on words. Overall, we show that round-bounded verification of distributed algorithms over rings is PSPACE-complete.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure

MathMC: A mathematica-based tool for CSL model checking of deterministic and stochastic Petri nets

Deterministic and Stochastic Petri Nets (DSPNs) are a widely used high-level formalism for modeling discreteevent systems where events may occur either without consuming time, after a deterministic time, or after an exponentially distributed time. CSL (Continuous Stochastic Logic) is a (branching) temporal logic developed to express probabilistic properties in continuous time Markov chains (CTMCs). In this paper we present a Mathematica-based tool that implements recent developments for model checking CSL style properties on DSPNs. Furthermore, as a consequence of the type of process underlying DSPNs (a superset of Markovian processes), we are also able to check CSL properties of Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets (GSPNs) and labeled CTMCs

Network-based business process management: embedding business logic in communications networks

Advanced Business Process Management (BPM) tools enable the decomposition of previously integrated and often ill-defined processes into re-usable process modules. These process modules can subsequently be distributed on the Internet over a variety of many different actors, each with their own specialization and economies-of-scale. The economic benefits of process specialization can be huge. However, how should such actors in a business network find, select, and control, the best partner for what part of the business process, in such a way that the best result is achieved? This particular management challenge requires more advanced techniques and tools in the enabling communications networks. An approach has been developed to embed business logic into the communications networks in order to optimize the allocation of business resources from a network point of view. Initial experimental results have been encouraging while at the same time demonstrating the need for more robust techniques in a future of massively distributed business processes.active networks;business process management;business protocols;embedded business logic;genetic algorithms;internet distributed process management;payment systems;programmable networks;resource optimization

A Modal Characterisation of Distributed Bisimulation

In this paper we consider the distributed bisimulation equivalence defined by Hennessy and Castellani and later developed by Castellani. We present a logic in the style of Hennessy-Milner logic to charaterize the equivalence, i.e. we seek a logic such that whenever two processes are distributed bisimulation equivalent, they satisfy the same set of formulae and vice versa. Furthermore, for a small subset of CCS we provide a proof system which is shown to be sound and complete. The proof system is structural both in the structure of formulae and in the structure of processes. For the case of parallel composition of processes we present inference rules defined via a new combinator introduced. The combinator in question is left merge, a special kind of parallel composition in which the left operand has precedence over the other and must perform the first action observed

Process-Based Design and Integration of Wireless Sensor Network Applications

Abstract Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSNs) are distributed sensor and actuator networks that monitor and control real-world phenomena, enabling the integration of the physical with the virtual world. They are used in domains like building automation, control systems, remote healthcare, etc., which are all highly process-driven. Today, tools and insights of Business Process Modeling (BPM) are not used to model WSN logic, as BPM focuses mostly on the coordination of people and IT systems and neglects the integration of embedded IT. WSN development still requires significant special-purpose, low-level, and manual coding of process logic. By exploiting similarities between WSN applications and business processes, this work aims to create a holistic system enabling the modeling and execution of executable processes that integrate, coordinate, and control WSNs. Concretely, we present a WSNspecific extension for Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and a compiler that transforms the extended BPMN models into WSN-specific code to distribute process execution over both a WSN and a standard business process engine. The developed tool-chain allows modeling of an independent control loop for the WSN.

CSL model checking of Deterministic and Stochastic Petri Nets

Deterministic and Stochastic Petri Nets (DSPNs) are a widely used high-level formalism for modeling discrete-event systems where events may occur either without consuming time, after a deterministic time, or after an exponentially distributed time. The underlying process dened by DSPNs, under certain restrictions, corresponds to a class of Markov Regenerative Stochastic Processes (MRGP). In this paper, we investigate the use of CSL (Continuous Stochastic Logic) to express probabilistic properties, such a time-bounded until and time-bounded next, at the DSPN level. The verication of such properties requires the solution of the steady-state and transient probabilities of the underlying MRGP. We also address a number of semantic issues regarding the application of CSL on MRGP and provide numerical model checking algorithms for this logic. A prototype model checker, based on SPNica, is also described

Distributed Logic Objects: A Fragment of Rewriting Logic and its Implementation

Abstract This paper presents a logic language (called Distributed Logic Objects, DLO for short) that supports objects, messages and inheritance. The operational semantics of the language is given in terms of rewriting rules acting upon the (possibly distributed) state of the system. In this sense, the logic underlying the language is Rewriting Logic. In the paper we discuss the implementation of this language on distributed memory MIMD architectures, and we describe the advantages achieved in terms of flexibility, scalability and load balancing. In more detail, the implementation is obtained by translating logic objects into a concurrent logic language based on multi-head clauses, taking advantage from its distributed implementation on a massively parallel architecture. In the underlying implementation, objects are clusters of processes, objects' state is represented by logical variables, message-passing communication between objects is performed via multi-head clauses, and inheritance is mapped into clause union. Some interesting features such as transparent object migration and intensional messages are easily achieved thanks to the underlying support. In the paper, we also sketch a (direct) distributed implementation supporting the indexing of clauses for single-named methods