Formal verification of PLC programs

Rausch, Mathias; Krogh, Bruce H.

doi:10.1109/acc.1998.694666

Cited by 53 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…One means for reducing this combinatory explosion, using realistic constraints that depict the interaction of plant behavior with controller behavior, is to conduct a model-based verification. (Rausch and Krogh, 1998), (Machado, et al, 2003). Through reliance upon these results, we are now in a position to study the possibilities offered by the model-checking procedure in evaluating DES performance (in terms of quality of service provided by the automated system).…”

Section: Des Verificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Verification of Discrete Event Systems Using Hybrid Model-Checking

Denis¹,

Lesage²,

Juárez-Orozco

2006

IFAC Proceedings Volumes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The results generated over the past few years on the formal verification of both Discrete Event Systems (DES) and Hybrid Dynamic Systems (HDS) are quite substantial, especially as regards the controller's properties of liveness and safety. In this paper, we will study the range of possibilities offered using the model-checking techniques in order to evaluate DES performances (in terms of quality of service provided by the automated system). This task calls for proceeding with a model-based approach that couples a hybrid model of the plant with a timed discrete model of the controller. We will also show, using a basic example, that by parameterizing the hybrid process model, the model-checker may then be employed to evaluate the robustness of the discrete control to perturbations encountered by the plant.

show abstract

Section: Des Verificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Verification of Discrete Event Systems Using Hybrid Model-Checking

Denis¹,

Lesage²,

Juárez-Orozco

2006

IFAC Proceedings Volumes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Application of formal methods for PLC software has been proposed [2][3]. In the previous work,formal models are extracted from the PLC programs for verification.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, generating test vectors is labor. The use of formal methods is an alternative approach to validate system designs.Application of formal methods for PLC software has been proposed [2][3]. In the previous work,formal models are extracted from the PLC programs for verification.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Verification Approach for Programmable Logic Controllers

Luo¹,

Li²,

Du³

et al. 2017

dtetr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. This paper presents an iterative approach to the verification of programmable logic controllers. We explore the modeling method for timing, environment and controller logics in a system, in which predicate abstraction and counterexample-guided refinement strategies are employed. We use a representative example to illustrate the proposed approach and verify it by the model checker CBMC. The experimental results show the validity of the approach. IntroductionProgrammable Logic Controller systems (PLCs) are widely used in industry [1]. Typical applications range from household appliances chemical process control to railway automation systems and emergency shutdown systems in nuclear power plants. As PLCs are increasingly utilized in safety-critical systems, the correctness of PLC systems is critical. Traditional verification techniques use simulation to validate the design. Unfortunately, generating test vectors is labor. The use of formal methods is an alternative approach to validate system designs.Application of formal methods for PLC software has been proposed [2][3]. In the previous work,formal models are extracted from the PLC programs for verification. Model checking works on a model of system with a logical specification of a desired behavior of the system model. It checks whether the model adheres to the specification by effectively searching the entire state space of the model. With the increased scale and complexity of systems, state space explosion problem imposes a major vexing problem in automated program verification [4][5][6]. Predicate abstraction constitutes a promising strategy of reducing state space [4]. Based on predicate abstraction, the counter-example-guided abstraction refinement (CEGAR) framework [5][6][7] plays a key role in application of model checking. It is successfully applied to a few software verification projects to verify device drivers, C programs and Java software [5][6][7]. This paper presents an iterative approach to verifying programmable logic controllers. System modeling for timing constraints, environment and controller logics is explored. Predicate abstraction and counterexample-guided refinement strategies are employed. A representative example is used to illustrate our modeling and verification process. The proposed strategy is validated by the analysis and the experiment.The rest of the paper is structured as follows. We first introduce the architecture of PLC systems, explore the modeling method for PLC systems, then present the verification method and a case study to illustrate the verification process. Finally we conclude the paper.

show abstract

“…Most of them transfer PLC programs to automata [3,9,1] or Petri nets [7]. Formal methods [16,6,14]are also proposed for analysis. Most of these methods consider the static individual PLC program that is isolated from its operating environment and verify some functional properties based on traversing the transferred model.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domain-Driven Probabilistic Analysis of Programmable Logic Controllers

Zhang

Jiang

Hung

et al. 2011

Formal Methods and Software Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Programmable Logic Controllers are widely used in industry. Reliable PLCs are vital to many critical applications. This paper presents a novel symbolic approach for analysis of PLC systems. The main components of the approach consists of: (1) calculating the uncertainty characterization of the PLC systems, (2) abstracting the PLC system as a Hidden Markov Model, (3) solving the Hidden Markov Model using domain knowledge, (4) integrating the solved Hidden Markov Model and the uncertainty characterization to form an integrated (regular) Markov Model, and (5) harnessing probabilistic model checking to analyze properties on the resultant Markov Model. The framework provides expected performance measures of the PLC systems by automated analytical means without expensive simulations. Case studies on an industrial automated system are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

show abstract

Formal verification of PLC programs

Cited by 53 publications

References 5 publications

Performance Verification of Discrete Event Systems Using Hybrid Model-Checking

Performance Verification of Discrete Event Systems Using Hybrid Model-Checking

A Verification Approach for Programmable Logic Controllers

Domain-Driven Probabilistic Analysis of Programmable Logic Controllers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About