The research on algorithmic verification methods for concurrent and parallel systems has mostly focussed on finite-state systems, with applications in e.g. communication protocols and hardware systems. For infinite-state systems, e.g. systems that operate on data from unbounded domains, algorithmic verification is more difficult, since most verification problems are in general undecidable. In this paper, we consider the verification of a particular class of infinite-state systems, namely systems consisting of finite-state processes that communicate via unbounded lossy FIFO channels. This class is able to model e.g. link protocols such as the Alternating Bit Protocol and HDLC. The unboundedness of the channels makes these systems infinite-state. For this class of systems, we show that several interesting verification problems are decidable by giving algorithms for verifying the following classes of properties.

) Bernard Boigelot Universit'e de Li`ege Institut Montefiore, B28 4000 Li`ege Sart-Tilman, Belgium Email: boigelot@montefiore.ulg.ac.be Patrice Godefroid Lucent Technologies -- Bell Laboratories 1000 E. Warrenville Road Naperville, IL 60566, U.S.A. Email: god@bell-labs.com Abstract We study the verification of properties of communication protocols modeled by a finite set of finite-state machines that communicate by exchanging messages via unbounded FIFO queues. It is well-known that most interesting verification problems, such as deadlock detection, are undecidable for this class of systems. However, in practice, these verification problems may very well turn out to be decidable for a subclass containing most "real" protocols. Motivated by this optimistic (and, we claim, realistic) observation, we present an algorithm that may construct a finite and exact representation of the state space of a communication protocol, even if this state space is infinite. Our algorithm performs a loo...

. We consider symbolic on-the-fly verification methods for systems of finite-state machines that communicate by exchanging messages via unbounded and lossy FIFO queues. We propose a novel representation formalism, called simple regular expressions (SREs), for representing sets of states of protocols with lossy FIFO channels. We show that the class of languages representable by SREs is exactly the class of downward closed languages that arise in the analysis of such protocols. We give methods for (i) computing inclusion between SREs, (ii) an SRE representing the set of states reachable by executing a single transition in a system, and (iii) an SRE representing the set of states reachable by an arbitrary number of executions of a control loop of a program. All these operations are rather simple and can be carried out in polynomial time. With these techniques, one can construct a semi-algorithm which explores the set of reachable states of a protocol, in order to check variou...

We consider the verification of a particular class of infinite-state systems, namely systems consisting of finite-state processes that communicate via unbounded lossy FIFO channels. This class is able to model e.g. link protocols such as the Alternating Bit Protocol and HDLC. In an earlier paper, we showed that the problems of checking reachability, safety properties, and eventuality properties are decidable for this class of systems. In this paper, we show that the following problems are undecidable, namely ffl The model checking problem in propositional temporal logics such as Propositional Linear Time Temporal Logic (PTL) and Computation Tree Logic (CTL). ffl The problem of deciding eventuality properties with fair channels: do all computations eventually reach a given set of states if the unreliable channels satisfy fairness assumptions. The results are obtained through a reduction from a variant of Post's Correspondence Problem. This research report is a revised and extended ...

We consider symbolic on-the-fly verification methods for systems of finite-state machines that communicate by exchanging messages via unbounded and lossy FIFO queues. We propose a novel representation formalism, called simple regular expressions (SREs), for representing sets of states of protocols with lossy FIFO channels. We show that the class of languages representable by SREs is exactly the class of downward closed languages that arise in the analysis of such protocols. We give methods for (i) computing inclusion between SREs, (ii) an SRE representing the set of states reachable by executing a single transition in a system, and (iii) an SRE representing the set of states reachable by an arbitrary number of executions of a control loop of a program. All these operations are rather simple and can be carried out in polynomial time. With these techniques, one can straightforwardly construct an algorithm which explores the set of reachable states of a protocol, in order t...

We consider the verification of a class of infinite-state systems called lossy channel systems, which consist of finite-state processes communicating via unbounded but lossy FIFO channels. This class is able to model several interesting protocols, such as HDLC, the Alternating Bit Protocol, and other Sliding Window protocols. In earlier papers we have considered the decidability of various temporal properties for lossy channel systems. In this paper we study simulation and bisimulation relations between lossy channel systems and finite transition systems. More precisely, we show the decidability of (1) whether a state in a finite transition system simulates a state in a lossy channel system, and conversely, (2) whether a state in a finite transition system is bisimilar to a state in a lossy channel system, and (3) whether a state in a finite...

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