Temporal Specification Mining for IEC 61499 Function Blocks Using Evolutionary Algorithms and Model Checking

Daniil Chivilikhin

Abstract: Model checking allows rigorously checking the compliance of a software model with a given formal specification described with temporal logics. In control applications, model checking is used for formal verification of controller code, and temporal logic is used as a formal specification language. However, not all industrial projects start with the creation of a formal specification. On the contrary, often model checking is introduced at later stages of project development, and formal specifications need to be written for already existing legacy code.In this work we developed a framework for automating the process of formal specification preparation for IEC 61499 function blocks, a programming language used in the area of industrial automation. The developed framework is based on multiobjective evolutionary algorithms and model checking, and allows inference of linear temporal logic formulas for basic IEC 61499 function blocks. Our experiments show that the temporal specifications generated by the proposed framework sufficiently approximate existing, manually prepared specifications.