5 research outputs found
Formal modelling and analysis of broadcasting embedded control systems
PhD ThesisEmbedded systems are real-time, communicating systems, and the effective
modelling and analysis of these aspects of their behaviour is regarded as essential
for acquiring confidence in their correct operation. In practice, it is important
to minimise the burden of model construction and to automate the analysis,
if possible. Among the most promising techniques for real-time systems are
reachability analysis and model-checking of networks of timed automata. We
identify two obstacles to the application of these techniques to a large class of
distributed embedded systems: firstly, the language of timed automata is too
low-level for straightforward model construction, and secondly, the synchronous,
handshake communication mechanism of the timed automata model does not fit
well with the asynchronous, broadcast mechanism employed in many distributed
embedded systems. As a result, the task of model construction can be unduly
onerous.
This dissertation proposes an expressive language for the construction of
models of real-time, broadcasting control systems, and demonstrates how effi-
cient analysis techniques can be applied to them.
The dissertation is concerned in particular with the Controller Area Network
(CAN) protocol which is emerging as a de facto standard in the automotive
industry. An abstract formal model of CAN is developed. This model is adopted
as the communication primitive in a new language, bCANDLE, which includes
value passing, broadcast communication, message priorities and explicit time.
A high-level language, CANDLE, is introduced and its semantics defined by
translation to bCANDLE. We show how realistic CAN systems can be described
in CANDLE and how a timed transition model of a system can be extracted for
analysis. Finally, it is shown how efficient methods of analysis, such as 'on-the-
fly' and symbolic techniques, can be applied to these models. The dissertation
contributes to the practical application of formal methods within the domain
of broadcasting, embedded control systemsSchool of Computing and Mathematics at the University of Northumbri