Lectures on Formal Methods and Performance Analysis


Book Description

Traditionally, models and methods for the analysis of the functional correctness of reactive systems, and those for the analysis of their performance (and - pendability) aspects, have been studied by di?erent research communities. This has resulted in the development of successful, but distinct and largely unrelated modeling and analysis techniques for both domains. In many modern systems, however, the di?erence between their functional features and their performance properties has become blurred, as relevant functionalities become inextricably linked to performance aspects, e.g. isochronous data transfer for live video tra- mission. During the last decade, this trend has motivated an increased interest in c- bining insights and results from the ?eld of formal methods – traditionally - cused on functionality – with techniques for performance modeling and analysis. Prominent examples of this cross-fertilization are extensions of process algebra and Petri nets that allow for the automatic generation of performance models, the use of formal proof techniques to assess the correctness of randomized - gorithms, and extensions of model checking techniques to analyze performance requirements automatically. We believe that these developments markthe - ginning of a new paradigm for the modeling and analysis of systems in which qualitative and quantitative aspects are studied from an integrated perspective. We are convinced that the further worktowards the realization of this goal will be a growing source of inspiration and progress for both communities.




Formal Methods for Performance Evaluation


Book Description

This book presents a set of 11 papers accompanying the lectures of leading researchers given at the 7th edition of the International School on Formal Methods for the Design of Computer, Communication and Software Systems, SFM 2007, held in Bertinoro, Italy in May/June 2007. SFM 2007 was devoted to formal techniques for performance evaluation and covered several aspects of the field.




Formal Methods and Stochastic Models for Performance Evaluation


Book Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third European Performance Engineering Workshop, EPEW 2006, held in Budapest, Hungary in June 2006. The 16 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 40 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on stochastic process algebra, workloads and benchmarks, theory of stochastic processes, formal dependability and performance evaluation, as well as queues, theory and practice.




Formal Methods and Software Engineering


Book Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2003, held in Singapore in November 2003. The 34 revised full papers presented together with 3 invited contributions were carefully reviewed and selected from 91 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on testing and validation, state diagrams, PVS/HOL, refinement, hybrid systems, Z/Object-Z, Petri nets, timed automata, system modelling and checking, and semantics and synthesis.




Stochastic Models for Fault Tolerance


Book Description

As modern society relies on the fault-free operation of complex computing systems, system fault-tolerance has become an indispensable requirement. Therefore, we need mechanisms that guarantee correct service in cases where system components fail, be they software or hardware elements. Redundancy patterns are commonly used, for either redundancy in space or redundancy in time. Wolter’s book details methods of redundancy in time that need to be issued at the right moment. In particular, she addresses the so-called "timeout selection problem", i.e., the question of choosing the right time for different fault-tolerance mechanisms like restart, rejuvenation and checkpointing. Restart indicates the pure system restart, rejuvenation denotes the restart of the operating environment of a task, and checkpointing includes saving the system state periodically and reinitializing the system at the most recent checkpoint upon failure of the system. Her presentation includes a brief introduction to the methods, their detailed stochastic description, and also aspects of their efficient implementation in real-world systems. The book is targeted at researchers and graduate students in system dependability, stochastic modeling and software reliability. Readers will find here an up-to-date overview of the key theoretical results, making this the only comprehensive text on stochastic models for restart-related problems.




Formal Methods and Stochastic Models for Performance Evaluation


Book Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th European Performance Engineering Workshop, EPEW 2007, held in Berlin, Germany, September 27-28, 2007. The 20 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 53 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on Markov Chains, Process Algebra, Wireless Networks, Queueing Theory and Applications of Queueing, Benchmarking and Bounding, Grid and Peer-to-Peer Systems.




Formal Methods in Manufacturing


Book Description

Illustrated with real-life manufacturing examples, Formal Methods in Manufacturing provides state-of-the-art solutions to common problems in manufacturing systems. Assuming some knowledge of discrete event systems theory, the book first delivers a detailed introduction to the most important formalisms used for the modeling, analysis, and control of manufacturing systems (including Petri nets, automata, and max-plus algebra), explaining the advantages of each formal method. It then employs the different formalisms to solve specific problems taken from today’s industrial world, such as modeling and simulation, supervisory control (including deadlock prevention) in a distributed and/or decentralized environment, performance evaluation (including scheduling and optimization), fault diagnosis and diagnosability analysis, and reconfiguration. Containing chapters written by leading experts in their respective fields, Formal Methods in Manufacturing helps researchers and application engineers handle fundamental principles and deal with typical quality goals in the design and operation of manufacturing systems.




Quantitative Assessments of Distributed Systems


Book Description

Distributed systems employed in critical infrastructures must fulfill dependability, timeliness, and performance specifications. Since these systems most often operate in an unpredictable environment, their design and maintenance require quantitative evaluation of deterministic and probabilistic timed models. This need gave birth to an abundant literature devoted to formal modeling languages combined with analytical and simulative solution techniques The aim of the book is to provide an overview of techniques and methodologies dealing with such specific issues in the context of distributed systems and covering aspects such as performance evaluation, reliability/availability, energy efficiency, scalability, and sustainability. Specifically, techniques for checking and verifying if and how a distributed system satisfies the requirements, as well as how to properly evaluate non-functional aspects, or how to optimize the overall behavior of the system, are all discussed in the book. The scope has been selected to provide a thorough coverage on issues, models. and techniques relating to validation, evaluation and optimization of distributed systems. The key objective of this book is to help to bridge the gaps between modeling theory and the practice in distributed systems through specific examples.







Formal Techniques for Networked and Distributed Systems - FORTE 2003


Book Description

This volume contains the proceedings of FORTE 2003, the 23rd IFIP TC 6/ WG 6.1 International Conference on Formal Techniques for Networked and D- tributed Systems, held in Berlin, Germany, September 29–October 2, 2003. FORTE denotes a series of international working conferences on formal descr- tion techniques (FDTs) applied to computer networks and distributed systems. The conference series started in 1981 under the name PSTV. In 1988 a s- ond series under the name FORTE was set up. Both series were united to FORTE/PSTV in 1996. Two years ago the conference name was changed to its current form. The last ?ve meetings of this long conference series were held in Paris, France (1998), Beijing, China (1999), Pisa, Italy (2000), Cheju Island, Korea (2001), and Houston, USA (2002). The 23rd FORTE conference was especially dedicated to the application of formal description techniques to practice, especially in the Internet and c- munication domain. The scope of the papers presented at FORTE 2003 covered the application of formal techniques, timed automata, FDT-based design, v- i?cation and testing of communication systems and distributed systems, and the veri?cation of security protocols. In addition, work-in-progress papers were presented which have been published in a separate volume.