Formal Verification of LSCs in the Development Process

This paper presents how a model-based development process can be enhanced by the combination of using Live Sequence Charts (LSC) as the formal language to describe interactions together with automatic formal verification techniques that decide whether communication sequences are exhibitable or adhered to by the system. We exemplify our approach on the V-model, a widely used development process, considering a (Statemate) statecharts design of the reference case study “Funkfahrbetrieb” (FFB) and discuss potential assets and drawbacks. We sketch a set of best practices on the use of LSC features and emphasise the possibilities for re-use of LSCs in the different activities of the development process. To give evidence for feasibility of automatic formal verification of LSCs, as well as its limitations, we present our approaches to the verification of possible and mandatory LSC requirements on Statemate models. We report experimental results we have obtained from formal verification of the FFB and briefly discuss the treatment of Statemate’s different notions of time.