Probabilistic model checking and non-standard multi-objective reasoning

Abstract

Probabilistic model checking is a well-established method for the automated quantitative system analysis. It has been used in various application areas such as coordination algorithms for distributed systems, communication and multimedia protocols, biological systems, resilient systems or security. In this paper, we report on the experiences we made in inter-disciplinary research projects where we contribute with formal methods for the analysis of hardware and software systems. Many performance measures that have been identified as highly relevant by the respective domain experts refer to multiple objectives and require a good balance between two or more cost or reward functions, such as energy and utility. The formalization of these performance measures requires several concepts like quantiles, conditional probabilities and expectations and ratios of cost or reward functions that are not supported by state-ofthe- art probabilistic model checkers. We report on our current work in this direction, including applications in the field of software product line verification. © 2014 Springer-Verlag.