Abstract State Machines 1988-1998: Commented ASM Bibliography

An annotated bibliography of papers which deal with or use Abstract State Machines (ASMs), as of January 1998.Comment: Also maintained as a BibTeX file at http://www.eecs.umich.edu/gasm

Interactive Small-Step Algorithms I: Axiomatization

In earlier work, the Abstract State Machine Thesis -- that arbitrary algorithms are behaviorally equivalent to abstract state machines -- was established for several classes of algorithms, including ordinary, interactive, small-step algorithms. This was accomplished on the basis of axiomatizations of these classes of algorithms. Here we extend the axiomatization and, in a companion paper, the proof, to cover interactive small-step algorithms that are not necessarily ordinary. This means that the algorithms (1) can complete a step without necessarily waiting for replies to all queries from that step and (2) can use not only the environment's replies but also the order in which the replies were received

What is the Natural Abstraction Level of an Algorithm?

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Integrating formal methods into medical software development : the ASM approach

Medical devices are safety-critical systems since their malfunctions can seriously compromise human safety. Correct operation of a medical device depends upon the controlling software, whose development should adhere to certification standards. However, these standards provide general descriptions of common software engineering activities without any indication regarding particular methods and techniques to assure safety and reliability. This paper discusses how to integrate the use of a formal approach into the current normative for the medical software development. The rigorous process is based on the Abstract State Machine (ASM) formal method, its refinement principle, and model analysis approaches the method supports. The hemodialysis machine case study is used to show how the ASM-based design process covers most of the engineering activities required by the related standards, and provides rigorous approaches for medical software validation and verification

Executable formal specifications of complex distributed systems with CoreASM

Formal specifications play a crucial role in the design of reliable complex software systems. Executable formal specifications allow the designer to attain early validation and verification of design using static analysis techniques and accurate simulation of the runtime behavior of the system-to-be. With increasing complexity of software-intensive computer-based systems and the challenges of validation and verification of abstract software models prior to coding, the need for interactive software tools supporting executable formal specifications is even more evident. In this paper, we discuss how CoreASM, an environment for writing and running executable specifications according to the ASM method, provides flexibility and manages the complexity by using an innovative extensible language architecture

Formal design of data warehouse and OLAP systems : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

A data warehouse is a single data store, where data from multiple data sources is integrated for online business analytical processing (OLAP) of an entire organisation. The rationale being single and integrated is to ensure a consistent view of the organisational business performance independent from different angels of business perspectives. Due to its wide coverage of subjects, data warehouse design is a highly complex, lengthy and error-prone process. Furthermore, the business analytical tasks change over time, which results in changes in the requirements for the OLAP systems. Thus, data warehouse and OLAP systems are rather dynamic and the design process is continuous. In this thesis, we propose a method that is integrated, formal and application-tailored to overcome the complexity problem, deal with the system dynamics, improve the quality of the system and the chance of success. Our method comprises three important parts: the general ASMs method with types, the application tailored design framework for data warehouse and OLAP, and the schema integration method with a set of provably correct refinement rules. By using the ASM method, we are able to model both data and operations in a uniform conceptual framework, which enables us to design an integrated approach for data warehouse and OLAP design. The freedom given by the ASM method allows us to model the system at an abstract level that is easy to understand for both users and designers. More specifically, the language allows us to use the terms from the user domain not biased by the terms used in computer systems. The pseudo-code like transition rules, which gives the simplest form of operational semantics in ASMs, give the closeness to programming languages for designers to understand. Furthermore, these rules are rooted in mathematics to assist in improving the quality of the system design. By extending the ASMs with types, the modelling language is tailored for data warehouse with the terms that are well developed for data-intensive applications, which makes it easy to model the schema evolution as refinements in the dynamic data warehouse design. By providing the application-tailored design framework, we break down the design complexity by business processes (also called subjects in data warehousing) and design concerns. By designing the data warehouse by subjects, our method resembles Kimball's "bottom-up" approach. However, with the schema integration method, our method resolves the stovepipe issue of the approach. By building up a data warehouse iteratively in an integrated framework, our method not only results in an integrated data warehouse, but also resolves the issues of complexity and delayed ROI (Return On Investment) in Inmon's "top-down" approach. By dealing with the user change requests in the same way as new subjects, and modelling data and operations explicitly in a three-tier architecture, namely the data sources, the data warehouse and the OLAP (online Analytical Processing), our method facilitates dynamic design with system integrity. By introducing a notion of refinement specific to schema evolution, namely schema refinement, for capturing the notion of schema dominance in schema integration, we are able to build a set of correctness-proven refinement rules. By providing the set of refinement rules, we simplify the designers's work in correctness design verification. Nevertheless, we do not aim for a complete set due to the fact that there are many different ways for schema integration, and neither a prescribed way of integration to allow designer favored design. Furthermore, given its °exibility in the process, our method can be extended for new emerging design issues easily

Analysis of Mobile Networks’ Protocols Based on Abstract State Machines

We define MOTION (MOdeling and simulaTIng mObile adhoc Networks), a Java application based on the framework ASMETA (ASM mETAmodeling), that uses the ASM (Abstract State Machine) formalism to model and simulate mobile networks. In particular, the AODV (Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector) protocol is used to show the behaviour of the application

Concurrent abstract state machines

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Rigorous development process of a safety-critical system: from ASM models to Java code

The paper presents an approach for rigorous development of safety-critical systems based on the Abstract State Machine formal method. The development process starts from a high level formal view of the system and, through refinement, derives more detailed models till the desired level of specification. Along the process, different validation and verification activities are available, as simulation, model review, and model checking. Moreover, each refinement step can be proved correct using an SMT-based approach. As last step of the refinement process, a Java implementation can be developed and linked to the formal specification. The correctness of the implementation w.r.t. its formal specification can be proved by means of model-based testing and runtime verification. The process is exemplified by using a Landing Gear System as case study

Advanced information processing system: The Army fault tolerant architecture conceptual study. Volume 1: Army fault tolerant architecture overview

Digital computing systems needed for Army programs such as the Computer-Aided Low Altitude Helicopter Flight Program and the Armored Systems Modernization (ASM) vehicles may be characterized by high computational throughput and input/output bandwidth, hard real-time response, high reliability and availability, and maintainability, testability, and producibility requirements. In addition, such a system should be affordable to produce, procure, maintain, and upgrade. To address these needs, the Army Fault Tolerant Architecture (AFTA) is being designed and constructed under a three-year program comprised of a conceptual study, detailed design and fabrication, and demonstration and validation phases. Described here are the results of the conceptual study phase of the AFTA development. Given here is an introduction to the AFTA program, its objectives, and key elements of its technical approach. A format is designed for representing mission requirements in a manner suitable for first order AFTA sizing and analysis, followed by a discussion of the current state of mission requirements acquisition for the targeted Army missions. An overview is given of AFTA's architectural theory of operation