Faster Than Uppaal?

Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems

2011

Self Cite

Abstract. Directed model checking is a well-established technique for detecting error states in concurrent systems efficiently. As error traces are important for debugging purposes, it is preferable to find as short error traces as possible. A wide spread method to find provably shortest error traces is to apply the A * search algorithm with distance heuristics that never overestimate the real error distance. An important class of such distance estimators is the class of pattern database heuristics, which are built on abstractions of the system under consideration. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach for the construction of pattern database heuristics. We formally define a concept to measure the accuracy of abstractions. Based on this technique, we address the challenge of finding abstractions that are succinct on the one hand, and accurate to produce informed pattern databases on the other hand. We evaluate our approach on large and complex industrial problems. The experiments show that the resulting distance heuristic impressively advances the state of the art.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abstractions and Pattern Databases: The Quest for Succinctness and Accuracy

Kupferschmid

Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems

2011

Self Cite

“…We evaluate our algorithm on a number of different search methods, including uninformed search as well as various heuristic search methods as proposed in the literature and implemented in our model checker MCTA [20].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We implemented our context-enhanced search algorithm (denoted with CE in the following) into our model checker MCTA [20]. All experiments have been performed on an AMD Opteron 2.3 GHz system with 4 GByte of memory.…”

Section: Experimental Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context-Enhanced Directed Model Checking

Model Checking Software

Kupferschmid

2010

Self Cite

Abstract. Directed model checking is a well-established technique to efficiently tackle the state explosion problem when the aim is to find error states in concurrent systems. Although directed model checking has proved to be very successful in the past, additional search techniques provide much potential to efficiently handle larger and larger systems. In this work, we propose a novel technique for traversing the state space based on interference contexts. The basic idea is to preferably explore transitions that interfere with previously applied transitions, whereas other transitions are deferred accordingly. Our approach is orthogonal to the model checking process and can be applied to a wide range of search methods. We have implemented our method and empirically evaluated its potential on a range of non-trivial case studies. Compared to standard model checking techniques, we are able to detect subtle bugs with shorter error traces, consuming less memory and time.

“…Mcta [25,36] is a model checking tool for concurrent timed automata systems. It is released under the GPL and available at http://mcta.informatik.uni-freiburg.de.…”

Section: The Mcta Model Checkermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the second part, based on these criteria, we present a pattern selection algorithm based on successively abstracting the original system as long as the resulting system remains similar according to these criteria (i. e., as long as only little spurious behavior is introduced). We have implemented downward pattern refinement and the corresponding architecture for pattern databases into our model checking tool Mcta [25,36]. We demonstrate that downward pattern refinement can result in small patterns that still lead to very informed pattern database heuristics.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Downward pattern refinement for timed automata

Int J Softw Tools Technol Transfer

Kupferschmid²

2014

Self Cite

Directed model checking is a well-established approach for detecting error states in concurrent systems. A popular variant to find shortest error traces is to apply the A * search algorithm with distance heuristics that never overestimate the real error distance. An important class of such distance heuristics is the class of pattern database heuristics. Pattern database heuristics are built on abstractions of the system under consideration. In this paper, we propose downward pattern refinement, a systematic approach for the construction of pattern database heuristics for concurrent systems of timed automata. First, we propose a general framework for pattern databases in the context of timed automata and show that desirable theoretical properties hold for the resulting pattern database. Afterward, we formally define a concept to measure the accuracy of abstractions. Based on this concept, we propose an algorithm for computing succinct abstractions that are still accurate to produce informed pattern databases. We evaluate our approach on large and complex industrial problems. The experiments show the practical potential of the resulting pattern database heuristic.