Overview of ComFoRT: A Model Checking Reasoning Framework

Component technologies are gaining acceptance in the software community as effective tools for quickly assembling increasingly complex systems from components. Most of the current component technologies, however, fail to help developers predict important software qualities like performance, safety, and reliability. A prediction-enabled component technology (PECT) augments the capabilities of a component technology with one or more reasoning frameworks that package quality specific analyses and the means to apply them to component-based systems. Model checking is an automated approach for exhaustively analyzing whether systems satisfy specific behavioral claims that can be used to characterize safety and reliability requirements. This technical note describes ComFoRT, a reasoning framework that packages the effectiveness of state-of-the-art model checking in a form that enables users to apply the analysis technique without being experts in its use, and its incorporation in a PECT

SAT-Based Predicate Abstraction of Programs

Component Formal Reasoning Technology, ComFoRT, is a model-checking-based approach for analysis of component-based software designs. ComFoRT is designed to be used in a prediction-enabled component technology (PECT). A PECT provides a means to reliably predict the runtime qualities (e.g., performance and reliability) of assemblies of components from their certifiable properties (e.g., execution time and behavioral descriptions). ComFoRT uses an abstraction-based approach to cope with the complexity of analysis by reducing the size of the program models to be analyzed. This note presents technical details of a SAT-based predicate abstraction technique used in ComFoRT. The main advantage of the SAT-based method over conventional predicate abstraction techniques is that it does not require an exponential number of theorem prover calls for computing an abstract model. Additionally, the SAT-based approach computes a more precise and safe abstraction compared to existing predicate abstraction methods

Results of SEI Independent Research and Development Projects and Report on Emerging Technologies and Technology Trends

Each year, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) undertakes several Independent Research and Development (IR&D) projects. These projects serve to (1) support feasibility studies investigating whether further work by the SEI would be of potential benefit, and (2) support further exploratory work to determine whether there is sufficient value in eventually funding the feasibility study work as an SEI initiative. Projects are chosen based on their potential to mature and/or transition software engineering practices, develop information that will help in deciding whether further work is worth funding, and set new directions for SEI work. This report describes the IR&D projects that were conducted during fiscal year 2005 (October 2004 through September 2005). In addition, this report provides information on what the SEI has learned in its role as a technology scout for developments over the past year in the field of software engineering