Ladder programs validation through model-code traceability

Abstract

Control systems are used in industry for process automation and to increase the reliability and dependability when executing critical tasks. Failures in the operation of such systems may cause expensive losses and can compromise the plant safety. Therefore, it is necessary to define techniques, methods and tools to increase the dependability as well as reliability. Verification and validation techniques developed by the academy often excel in technical aspects but have little acceptance in industry due to the need of advanced knowledge in formal methods. The goal of this work is to introduce a user-friendly visual conformance validation method to increase the dependability of programmable logic controllers software. Also, a tool to hide formal aspects related to the implementation details from users during the test phase of Ladder programs without the need of specific training in formal methods.