In this paper we concentrate on aspects related to modeling and formal verification of embedded systems. First, we define a formal model of computation for embedded systems based on Petri nets that can capture important features of such systems and allows their representation at different levels of granularity. Our modeling formalism has a welldefined semantics so that it supports a precise representation of the system, the use of formal methods to verify its correctness, and the automation of different tasks along the design process. Second, we propose an approach to the problem of formal verification of embedded systems represented in our modeling formalism. We make use of model checking to prove whether certain properties, expressed as temporal logic formulas, hold with respect to the system model. We introduce a systematic procedure to translate our model into timed automata so that it is possible to use available model checking tools. We propose two strategies for improving the verification efficiency, the first by applying correctness-preserving transformations and the second by exploring the degree of parallelism characteristic to the system. Some examples, including a realistic industrial case, demonstrate the efficiency of our approach on practical applications.
This report addresses the problem of scheduling for real-time systems that include both hard and soft tasks. In order to capture the relative importance of soft tasks and how the quality of results is affected when missing a soft deadline, we use utility functions associated to soft tasks. Thus the aim is to find the execution order of tasks that makes the total utility maximum and guarantees hard deadlines. We consider intervals rather than fixed execution times for tasks. Since a purely off-line solution is too pessimistic and a purely on-line approach incurs an unacceptable overhead due to the high complexity of the problem, we propose a quasi-static approach where a number of schedules are prepared at design-time and the decision of which of them to follow is taken at run-time based on the actual execution times. We propose an exact algorithm as well as different heuristics for the problem addressed in this report.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.