The next generation of networked mechatronic systems will be characterized by complex coordination and structural adaptation at run-time. Crucial safety properties have to be guaranteed for all potential structural configurations. Testing cannot provide safety guarantees, while current model checking and theorem proving techniques do not scale for such systems. We present a verification technique for arbitrarily large multi-agent systems from the mechatronic domain, featuring complex coordination and structural adaptation. We overcome the limitations of existing techniques by exploiting the local character of structural safety properties. The system state is modeled as a graph, system transitions are modeled as rule applications in a graph transformation system, and safety properties of the system are encoded as inductive invariants (permitting the verification of infinite state systems). We developed a symbolic verification procedure that allows us to perform the computation on an efficient BDD-based graph manipulation engine, and we report performance results for several examples.
Complex software systems, and self-adaptive systems in particular, are characterized by complex structures and behavior. For their design, appropriate notations for the specification of properties that integrate structural and temporal aspects are required. We present Timed Story Scenario Diagrams (TSSD), a visual notation for scenario specifications that takes structural system properties into account and provides an integrated way of discussing system state evolution. We present the key features of the notation and demonstrate how the patterns of the Specification Pattern System [1,2] can be encoded using TSSDs. We also discuss how TSSDs can be derived from textual specifications in a straightforward manner, using a case study.
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