Summary: Automatic Symbolic Verification of Embedded Systems \Lambda
Rajeev Alur y Thomas A. Henzinger z Pei­Hsin Ho x
Abstract. We present a model­checking procedure and its implementation for the au­
tomatic verification of embedded systems. The system components are described as Hy­
brid Automata---communicating machines with finite control and real­valued variables
that represent continuous environment parameters such as time, pressure, and tempera­
ture. The system requirements are specified in a temporal logic with stop watches, and
verified by symbolic fixpoint computation. The verification procedure---implemented
in the Cornell Hybrid Technology Tool, HyTech---applies to hybrid automata whose
continuous dynamics is governed by linear constraints on the variables and their deriva­
tives. We illustrate the method and the tool by checking safety, liveness, time­bounded,
and duration requirements of digital controllers, schedulers, and distributed algorithms.
1 Introduction
Hybrid systems are digital real­time systems that are embedded in analog environments. Due
to the rapid development of digital­processor technology, hybrid systems directly control much
of what we depend on in our daily lives. Many hybrid systems, ranging from automobiles to
aircraft, operate in safety­critical situations and therefore call for rigorous analysis techniques. Yet
traditional program verification methods allow us, at best, to approximate continuously changing
environments by discrete sampling. Only recently have there been some attempts at developing a
verification methodology for hybrid systems [GNRR93, ANKS95, AHS96].

Source: Alur, Rajeev - Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania
Henzinger, Thomas A. - Faculté Informatique et Communications, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences