Temporal verification of carrier-sense local area network protocols

We examine local area network protocols and verify the correctness of two representative algorithms using temporal logic. We introduce an interval temporal logic that allows us to make assertions of the form “in the next k units, X holds.” This logic encodes intuitive arguments about contention protocols quite directly. We present two proofs of an Ethernet-like contention protocol, one using the interval temporal logic and one using classical temporal logic. We also verify a contention-free protocol using an invariant that seems to have wide applicability for such protocols.