Temporal Refinement Using SMT and Model Checking with an Application to Physical-Layer Protocols

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how to use a satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver together with a bounded model checker to prove temporal refinement conditions. The method is demonstrated by refining a specification of the 8N1 protocol, a widely-used protocol for serial data transmission. A nondeterministic finite-state 8N1 specification is refined to an infinite-state implementation in which in- terleavings are constrained by real-time linear inequalities. The refinement proof is via automated induction proofs over infinite-state transitions systems using SMT and model checking, as implemented in SRI International's Symbolic Analysis Laboratory (SAL).