Analysis of Dynamic Process Networks

Kedar S. Namjoshi, Richard J. Trefler

Abstract: We formulate a method to compute global invariants of dynamic process networks. In these networks, inter-process connectivity may be altered by an adversary at any point in time. Dynamic networks serve as models for ad-hoc and sensor-network protocols. The analysis combines elements of compositional reasoning, symmetry reduction, and abstraction. Together, they allow a small “cutoff” network to represent arbitrarily large networks. A compositional invariant computed on the small network generalizes to a parametric invariant of the shape “for all networks and all processes: property p holds of each process and its local neighborhood.” We illustrate this method by showing how to compute useful invariants for a simple dining philosophers protocol, and the latest version of the ad-hoc routing protocol AODV (version 2).