A Parallel Algorithm for the State Space Exploration

TitleA Parallel Algorithm for the State Space Exploration
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsAllal, L, Belalem, G, Dhaussy, P, Teodorov, C
JournalScalable Computing: Practice and Experience
Volume17
Issue2
Start Page129
Pagination141
Keywordsexecution time, memory space, Model checking, parallel algorithms, parallel explora tion, reachability graph, software verification., state explosion problem
Abstract

Model checking has long been used as a means of verification of formal specifications. This is a verification technique of dynamic systems that explores all possible states of the system. It determines whether the given system satisfies its specification. This technique suffers from the state explosion problem when traversing all possible states of systems. Parallel and/or distributed approaches are used to cope with the state space explosion problem. In this article, we propose a synchronized parallel algorithm of exploration based on a fixed number of threads. We present many experiments for a comparison between our parallel approach and the algorithm proposed for a parallel exploration in SPIN. We show by an experimental study that our parallel approach gives encouraging results.