Abstract-Conventional testing methods often fail to detect hidden flaws in complex embedded software such as device drivers or file systems. This deficiency incurs significant development and support/maintenance cost for the manufacturers. Model checking techniques have been proposed to compensate for the weaknesses of conventional testing methods through exhaustive analyses. Whereas conventional model checkers require manual effort to create an abstract target model, modern software model checkers remove this overhead by directly analyzing a target C program, and can be utilized as unit testing tools. However, since software model checkers are not fully mature yet, they have limitations according to the underlying technologies and tool implementations, potentially critical issues when applied in industrial projects. This paper reports our experience in applying Blast and CBMC to testing the components of a storage platform software for flash memory. Through this project, we analyzed the strong and weak points of two different software model checking technologies in the viewpoint of real-world industrial application-counterexample-guided abstraction refinement with predicate abstraction and SAT-based bounded analysis.Index Terms-Embedded software verification, software model checking, bounded model checking, CEGAR-based model checking, flash file systems.
Abstract. Flash memory has become virtually indispensable in most mobile devices. In order for mobile devices to operate successfully, it is essential that flash memory be controlled correctly through the device driver software. However, as is typical for embedded software, conventional testing methods often fail to detect hidden flaws in the complex device driver software. This deficiency incurs significant development and operation overhead to the manufacturers. In order to compensate for the weaknesses of conventional testing, we have applied NuSMV, Spin, and CBMC to verify the correctness of a multi-sector read operation of the Samsung OneNAND TM flash device driver and studied their relative strengths and weaknesses empirically. Through this project, we verified the correctness of the multi-sector read operation on a small scale. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using model checking techniques to verify the control algorithm of a device driver in an industrial setting.
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