A Performance Study of Distributed Timed Automata Reachability Analysis

Abstract We experimentally evaluate an existing distributed reachability algorithm for timed automata on a Linux Beowulf cluster. It is discovered that the algorithm suffers from load balancing problems and a high communication overhead. The load balancing problems are caused by inclusion checking performed between symbolic states unique to the timed automaton reachability algorithm. We propose adding a proportional load balancing controller on top of the algorithm. We evaluate various approaches to reduce communication overhead by increasing locality and reducing the number of messages. Both approaches increase performance but can make load balancing harder and has unwanted side effects that result in an increased workload.

[1]  Wang Yi,et al.  Efficient verification of real-time systems: compact data structure and state-space reduction , 1997, Proceedings Real-Time Systems Symposium.

[2]  David L. Dill,et al.  Parallelizing the Murphi Verifier , 1997, CAV.

[3]  Rajeev Alur,et al.  A Theory of Timed Automata , 1994, Theor. Comput. Sci..

[4]  David M. Nicol,et al.  Distributed State Space Generation of Discrete-State Stochastic Models , 1995, INFORMS J. Comput..

[5]  Boudewijn R. Haverkort,et al.  On the efficient sequential and distributed generation of very large Markov chains from stochastic Petri nets , 1999, Proceedings 8th International Workshop on Petri Nets and Performance Models (Cat. No.PR00331).

[6]  Edsger W. Dijkstra,et al.  Termination Detection for Diffusing Computations , 1980, Inf. Process. Lett..

[7]  G. Conte,et al.  Parallel State Space Exploration for GSPN Models , 1995, Application and Theory of Petri Nets.

[8]  Johan Bengtsson,et al.  Reducing Memory Usage in Symbolic State-Space Exploration for Timed Systems , 2001 .

[9]  Patricia Bouyer,et al.  Are Timed Automata Updatable? , 2000, CAV.

[10]  Kim G. Larsen,et al.  Formal modeling and analysis of an audio/video protocol: an industrial case study using UPPAAL , 1997, Proceedings Real-Time Systems Symposium.

[11]  H. Lonn,et al.  Formal verification of a TDMA protocol start-up mechanism , 1997, Proceedings Pacific Rim International Symposium on Fault-Tolerant Systems.

[12]  Wang Yi,et al.  UPPAAL - Now, Next, and Future , 2000, MOVEP.

[13]  Susann C. Allmaier,et al.  Parallel Graph Generation Algorithms for Shared and Distributed Memory Machines , 1997, PARCO.

[14]  Kim G. Larsen,et al.  Formal Verification of a Power Controller Using the Real-Time Model Checker UPPAAL , 1999, ARTS.

[15]  Assaf Schuster,et al.  Scalable Distributed On-the-Fly Symbolic Model Checking , 2000, FMCAD.