Using the PALS Architecture to Verify a Distributed Topology Control Protocol for Wireless Multi-Hop Networks in the Presence of Node Failures

TL;DR

This paper employs the PALS architecture and Maude's meta-level to automatically verify a distributed topology control protocol's correctness in wireless multi-hop networks, even with node failures.

Contribution

It introduces an automated method for composing and verifying distributed protocols within the PALS framework using Maude's meta-level capabilities.

Findings

Successfully verified protocol correctness with node failures

Automated composition reduces manual errors

Enhances reliability of wireless network protocols

Abstract

The PALS architecture reduces distributed, real-time asynchronous system design to the design of a synchronous system under reasonable requirements. Assuming logical synchrony leads to fewer system behaviors and provides a conceptually simpler paradigm for engineering purposes. One of the current limitations of the framework is that from a set of independent "synchronous machines", one must compose the entire synchronous system by hand, which is tedious and error-prone. We use Maude's meta-level to automatically generate a synchronous composition from user-provided component machines and a description of how the machines communicate with each other. We then use the new capabilities to verify the correctness of a distributed topology control protocol for wireless networks in the presence of nodes that may fail.