This paper proposes rewriting modulo SMT, a new technique that
combines the power of SMT solving, rewriting modulo theories, and model checking.
Rewriting modulo SMT is ideally suited to model and analyze reachability
properties of infinite-state open systems, i.e., systems that interact with a nondeterministic
environment. Such systems exhibit both internal nondeterminism,
which is proper to the system, and external nondeterminism, which is due to the
environment. In a reflective formalism, such as rewriting logic, rewriting modulo
SMT can be reduced to standard rewriting. Hence, rewriting modulo SMT naturally
extends rewriting-based reachability analysis techniques, which are available
for closed systems, to open systems. The proposed technique is illustrated
with the formal analysis of: (i) a real-time system that is beyond the scope of
timed-automata methods and (ii) automatic detection of reachability violations in
a synchronous language developed to support autonomous spacecraft operations.NSF Grant CNS 13-19109 and NASA Research Cooperative Agreement No. NNL09AA00AOpe