Bounded LTL Model Checking with Stable Models

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel approach to bounded model checking of asynchronous systems using answer set programming, translating Petri nets and temporal logic properties into logic programs for stable model computation.

Contribution

It introduces a new translation method from Petri nets and temporal logic to logic programs, enabling bounded model checking via stable models.

Findings

Effective translation of Petri nets into logic programs

Successful application of stable model semantics for bounded reachability

Experimental validation using Smodels system

Abstract

In this paper bounded model checking of asynchronous concurrent systems is introduced as a promising application area for answer set programming. As the model of asynchronous systems a generalisation of communicating automata, 1-safe Petri nets, are used. It is shown how a 1-safe Petri net and a requirement on the behaviour of the net can be translated into a logic program such that the bounded model checking problem for the net can be solved by computing stable models of the corresponding program. The use of the stable model semantics leads to compact encodings of bounded reachability and deadlock detection tasks as well as the more general problem of bounded model checking of linear temporal logic. Correctness proofs of the devised translations are given, and some experimental results using the translation and the Smodels system are presented.