265,459 research outputs found
Survey of Distributed Decision
We survey the recent distributed computing literature on checking whether a
given distributed system configuration satisfies a given boolean predicate,
i.e., whether the configuration is legal or illegal w.r.t. that predicate. We
consider classical distributed computing environments, including mostly
synchronous fault-free network computing (LOCAL and CONGEST models), but also
asynchronous crash-prone shared-memory computing (WAIT-FREE model), and mobile
computing (FSYNC model)
Verification of Agent-Based Artifact Systems
Artifact systems are a novel paradigm for specifying and implementing
business processes described in terms of interacting modules called artifacts.
Artifacts consist of data and lifecycles, accounting respectively for the
relational structure of the artifacts' states and their possible evolutions
over time. In this paper we put forward artifact-centric multi-agent systems, a
novel formalisation of artifact systems in the context of multi-agent systems
operating on them. Differently from the usual process-based models of services,
the semantics we give explicitly accounts for the data structures on which
artifact systems are defined. We study the model checking problem for
artifact-centric multi-agent systems against specifications written in a
quantified version of temporal-epistemic logic expressing the knowledge of the
agents in the exchange. We begin by noting that the problem is undecidable in
general. We then identify two noteworthy restrictions, one syntactical and one
semantical, that enable us to find bisimilar finite abstractions and therefore
reduce the model checking problem to the instance on finite models. Under these
assumptions we show that the model checking problem for these systems is
EXPSPACE-complete. We then introduce artifact-centric programs, compact and
declarative representations of the programs governing both the artifact system
and the agents. We show that, while these in principle generate infinite-state
systems, under natural conditions their verification problem can be solved on
finite abstractions that can be effectively computed from the programs. Finally
we exemplify the theoretical results of the paper through a mainstream
procurement scenario from the artifact systems literature
Model checking probabilistic and stochastic extensions of the pi-calculus
We present an implementation of model checking for probabilistic and stochastic extensions of the pi-calculus, a process algebra which supports modelling of concurrency and mobility. Formal verification techniques for such extensions have clear applications in several domains, including mobile ad-hoc network protocols, probabilistic security protocols and biological pathways. Despite this, no implementation of automated verification exists. Building upon the pi-calculus model checker MMC, we first show an automated procedure for constructing the underlying semantic model of a probabilistic or stochastic pi-calculus process. This can then be verified using existing probabilistic model checkers such as PRISM. Secondly, we demonstrate how for processes of a specific structure a more efficient, compositional approach is applicable, which uses our extension of MMC on each parallel component of the system and then translates the results into a high-level modular description for the PRISM tool. The feasibility of our techniques is demonstrated through a number of case studies from the pi-calculus literature
A generic approach for the automatic verification of featured, parameterised systems
A general technique is presented that allows property based feature analysis of systems consisting of an arbitrary number of components. Each component may have an arbitrary set of safe features. The components are defined in a guarded command form and the technique combines model checking and abstraction. Features must fulfill certain criteria in order to be safe, the criteria express constraints on the variables which occur in feature guards. The main result is a generalisation theorem which we apply to a well known example: the ubiquitous, featured telephone system
Reachability Analysis of Communicating Pushdown Systems
The reachability analysis of recursive programs that communicate
asynchronously over reliable FIFO channels calls for restrictions to ensure
decidability. Our first result characterizes communication topologies with a
decidable reachability problem restricted to eager runs (i.e., runs where
messages are either received immediately after being sent, or never received).
The problem is EXPTIME-complete in the decidable case. The second result is a
doubly exponential time algorithm for bounded context analysis in this setting,
together with a matching lower bound. Both results extend and improve previous
work from La Torre et al
A Spatial-Epistemic Logic for Reasoning about Security Protocols
Reasoning about security properties involves reasoning about where the
information of a system is located, and how it evolves over time. While most
security analysis techniques need to cope with some notions of information
locality and knowledge propagation, usually they do not provide a general
language for expressing arbitrary properties involving local knowledge and
knowledge transfer. Building on this observation, we introduce a framework for
security protocol analysis based on dynamic spatial logic specifications. Our
computational model is a variant of existing pi-calculi, while specifications
are expressed in a dynamic spatial logic extended with an epistemic operator.
We present the syntax and semantics of the model and logic, and discuss the
expressiveness of the approach, showing it complete for passive attackers. We
also prove that generic Dolev-Yao attackers may be mechanically determined for
any deterministic finite protocol, and discuss how this result may be used to
reason about security properties of open systems. We also present a
model-checking algorithm for our logic, which has been implemented as an
extension to the SLMC system.Comment: In Proceedings SecCo 2010, arXiv:1102.516
Model Checking Dynamic-Epistemic Spatial Logic
In this paper we focus on Dynamic Spatial Logic, the extension of Hennessy-Milner logic with the parallel operator. We develop a sound complete Hilbert-style axiomatic system for it comprehending the behavior of spatial operators in relation with dynamic/temporal ones. Underpining on a new congruence we define over the class of processes - the structural bisimulation - we prove the finite model property for this logic that provides the decidability for satisfiability, validity and model checking against process semantics. Eventualy we propose algorithms for validity, satisfiability and model checking
Reasoning about Knowledge and Strategies under Hierarchical Information
Two distinct semantics have been considered for knowledge in the context of
strategic reasoning, depending on whether players know each other's strategy or
not. The problem of distributed synthesis for epistemic temporal specifications
is known to be undecidable for the latter semantics, already on systems with
hierarchical information. However, for the other, uninformed semantics, the
problem is decidable on such systems. In this work we generalise this result by
introducing an epistemic extension of Strategy Logic with imperfect
information. The semantics of knowledge operators is uninformed, and captures
agents that can change observation power when they change strategies. We solve
the model-checking problem on a class of "hierarchical instances", which
provides a solution to a vast class of strategic problems with epistemic
temporal specifications on hierarchical systems, such as distributed synthesis
or rational synthesis
Counter Attack on Byzantine Generals: Parameterized Model Checking of Fault-tolerant Distributed Algorithms
We introduce an automated parameterized verification method for
fault-tolerant distributed algorithms (FTDA). FTDAs are parameterized by both
the number of processes and the assumed maximum number of Byzantine faulty
processes. At the center of our technique is a parametric interval abstraction
(PIA) where the interval boundaries are arithmetic expressions over parameters.
Using PIA for both data abstraction and a new form of counter abstraction, we
reduce the parameterized problem to finite-state model checking. We demonstrate
the practical feasibility of our method by verifying several variants of the
well-known distributed algorithm by Srikanth and Toueg. Our semi-decision
procedures are complemented and motivated by an undecidability proof for FTDA
verification which holds even in the absence of interprocess communication. To
the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to achieve parameterized
automated verification of Byzantine FTDA
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