Summary: Feasibility of Model Checking Software Requirements: A Case Study
Tirumale Sreemani Joanne M. Atlee \Lambda
Department of Computer Science
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
e­mail: tsreeman@uwaterloo.ca, jmatlee@uwaterloo.ca
Abstract
Model checking is an effective technique for verifying
properties of a finite specification. A model checker accepts
a specification and a property, and it searches the reachable
states to determine if the property is a theorem of the spec­
ification. Because model checking examines every state of
the specification, it is a more thorough validation technique
than testing executable specifications.
However, some researchers question the feasibility of
model checking, because the size of a specification's state
space grows exponentially with respect to the number of
variables in the specification. This paper demonstrates
the feasibility of symbolically model checking a non­trivial
specification: the software requirements of the A­7E air­
craft. The A­7E requirements document lists five properties

Source: Atlee, Joanne M. - School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences