Compositional timing analysis: power plant protection system case study

We introduce a method for studying temporal behaviour of the so-called Globally Asynchronous, Locally Synchronous (GALS) systems, that is systems consisting of synchronous computing elements communicating over asynchronous channels. Our method is based on the combined use of transitional logics and timed automata. The former is used to compute, by abstract interpretation, an over-approximation of the shape of the output signal, whereas the latter provide the time-stamps for the edges. Both are applied iteratively to a hierarchical model of the system in order to avoid state space explosion. We use the IF/TCA tool-chain developed at Verimag to apply this method to a case study based on the software protection system of a P4 nuclear reactor. Copyright 2011 ACM