Automating the verification of realtime observers using probes and the modal mu-calculus

Abstract

A classical method for model-checking timed properties— such as those expressed using timed extensions of temporal logic—is to rely on the use of observers. In this context, a major problem is to prove the correctness of observers. Essentially, this boils down to proving that: (1) every trace that contradicts a property can be detected by the observer; but also that (2) the observer is innocuous, meaning that it cannot interfere with the system under observation. In this paper, we describe a method for automatically testing the correctness of realtime observers. This method is obtained by automating an approach often referred to as visual verification, in which the correctness of a system is performed by inspecting a graphical representation of its state space. Our approach has been implemented on the tool Tina, a model-checking toolbox for Time Petri Net.