A process algebraic framework for specification and validation of real-time systems

Adnan Sherif (1) , Ana Cavalcanti (2) , He Jifeng (3) , Augusto Sampaio (1)

1 CIn - Centro de Informatica UFPE [Recife]
2 CS-YORK - Department of Computer Science [York]
3 Software Engineering Institute [Shangaï]

Following the trend to combine techniques to cover several facets of the development of modern systems, an integration of Z and CSP, called , has been proposed as a refinement language; its relational model, based on the unifying theories of programming (UTP), justifies refinement in the context of both Z and CSP. In this paper, we introduce , a timed extension of , and present a new UTP time theory, which we use to give semantics to and to validate some of its laws. In addition, we provide a framework for validation of timed programs based on FDR, the CSP model-checker. In this technique, a syntactic transformation strategy is used to split a timed program into two parallel components: an untimed program that uses timer events, and a collection of timers. We show that, with the timer events, it is possible to reason about time properties in the untimed language, and so, using FDR. Soundness is established using a Galois connection between the untimed UTP theory of (and CSP) and our time theory.

Mots clés: Relational models; Unifying theories of programming; CSP; Galois connections

Adnan Sherif, Ana Cavalcanti, He Jifeng, Augusto Sampaio. A process algebraic framework for specification and validation of real-time systems. Formal Aspects of Computing, 2009, 22 (2), pp.153-191. ⟨10.1007/s00165-009-0119-6⟩. ⟨hal-00534927⟩