Formal Verification of STPA with Model Checking

Abstract

As technology advances, hardware-centric systems are rapidly moving towards software-centric ones, and their complexity is rapidly increasing. In particular, systems directly related to safety require thorough verification. Model checking exhaustively explores the state space of the abstracted system to check whether properties written in a logical formula are achieved. In this paper, the control algorithm of the controller is verified using model checking to discover risk scenarios during the STPA steps. Two case studies are conducted using the widely used model checkers NuSMV and UPPAAL. We then explain the empirical results and compare two model checkers based on their characteristics. Finally, we discuss the benefits of applying model checking in the process of STPA.

Keywords

• formal verification, model checking, STPA