Formal Verification of Abstract SystemC Models

In this paper we present a formal verification approach for abstract SystemC models. The approach allows checking expressive properties and lifts induction known from bounded model checking to a higher level, to cope with the large state space of abstract SystemC programs. The technique is tightly integrated with our SystemC to C transformation and generation of monitoring logic to form a complete and efficient method. Properties specifying both hardware and software aspects, e.g. pre- and post-conditions as well as temporal relations of transactions and events, can be specified. As shown by experiments modern proof techniques allow verifying important non-trivial behavior. Moreover, our inductive technique gives significant speed-ups in comparison to simple methods

TLM.open: a SystemC/TLM Front-end for the CADP Verification Toolbox

Extended abstract for SBDCES workshop (http://unit.aist.go.jp/cvs/workshop/SBDCES.html)SystemC/TLM models allow the simulation of the embedded software before the hardware RTL descriptions are available, and are used as golden models for hardware verification. The verifi- cation of the SystemC/TLM models is an important issue, since a error in the model can mislead the system designers, or reveal an error in the specification. The OSCI provides an open-source simulator for SystemC/TLM but no tools for formal verification. In order to apply model checking to a SystemC/TLM program, the usual approach relies on the translation of the SystemC/TLM code to a formal language for which a model checker is available. We propose another approach that suppress the error-prone translation effort. Given a SystemC/TLM program, we execute the transitions using g++ and the OSCI library, and we ask the user to provide additional functions to store the current program state. These additional functions represent generally less than 20% of the size of the origianl model, and allows to apply all CADP tools to the SystemC/TLM program itself

Modeling Algorithms in SystemC and ACL2

We describe the formal language MASC, based on a subset of SystemC and intended for modeling algorithms to be implemented in hardware. By means of a special-purpose parser, an algorithm coded in SystemC is converted to a MASC model for the purpose of documentation, which in turn is translated to ACL2 for formal verification. The parser also generates a SystemC variant that is suitable as input to a high-level synthesis tool. As an illustration of this methodology, we describe a proof of correctness of a simple 32-bit radix-4 multiplier.Comment: In Proceedings ACL2 2014, arXiv:1406.123

Optimized temporal monitors for systemc

Abstract SystemC is a modeling language built as an extension of C++. Its growing popularity and the increasing complexity of designs have motivated research efforts aimed at the verification of SystemC models using assertionbased verification (ABV), where the designer asserts properties that capture the design intent in a formal language such as PSL or SVA. The model then can be verified against the properties using runtime or formal verification techniques. In this paper we focus on automated generation of runtime monitors from temporal properties. Our focus is on minimizing runtime overhead, rather than monitor size or monitor-generation time. We identify four issues in monitor generation: state minimization, alphabet representation, alphabet minimization, and monitor encoding. We conduct extensive experimentation and identify a combination of settings that offers the best performance in terms of runtime overhead

Dependability Analysis of Control Systems using SystemC and Statistical Model Checking

Stochastic Petri nets are commonly used for modeling distributed systems in order to study their performance and dependability. This paper proposes a realization of stochastic Petri nets in SystemC for modeling large embedded control systems. Then statistical model checking is used to analyze the dependability of the constructed model. Our verification framework allows users to express a wide range of useful properties to be verified which is illustrated through a case study

Synthesizing SystemC Code from Delay Hybrid CSP

Delay is omnipresent in modern control systems, which can prompt oscillations and may cause deterioration of control performance, invalidate both stability and safety properties. This implies that safety or stability certificates obtained on idealized, delay-free models of systems prone to delayed coupling may be erratic, and further the incorrectness of the executable code generated from these models. However, automated methods for system verification and code generation that ought to address models of system dynamics reflecting delays have not been paid enough attention yet in the computer science community. In our previous work, on one hand, we investigated the verification of delay dynamical and hybrid systems; on the other hand, we also addressed how to synthesize SystemC code from a verified hybrid system modelled by Hybrid CSP (HCSP) without delay. In this paper, we give a first attempt to synthesize SystemC code from a verified delay hybrid system modelled by Delay HCSP (dHCSP), which is an extension of HCSP by replacing ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with delay differential equations (DDEs). We implement a tool to support the automatic translation from dHCSP to SystemC