Skip to main content

Formal Verification of Network Interlocking Control by Distributed Signal Boxes

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Model-Based Safety and Assessment (IMBSA 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 11842))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 925 Accesses

Abstract

Interlocking control prevents certain operations from occurring, unless preceded by specific events. It is used in traffic network control systems (e.g. railway interlocking control), piping and tunneling control systems and in other applications like for example communication network control. Interlocking systems have to comply with certain safety properties and this fact elevates formal modeling as the most important concern in their design. This paper introduces an interlocking control algorithm based on the use of what we call Distributed Signal Boxes (DSBs). Distributed control eliminates the intrinsic complexity of centralized interlocking control solutions, which are mainly developed in the field of railway traffic control. Our algorithm uses types of network control units, which do not store state information. Control units are combined according to a limited number of patterns that in all cases yield safe network topologies. Verification of safety takes place by model checking a network that includes all possible interconnections between neighbor nodes. Obtained results can be used to generalize correctness by compositional reasoning for networks of arbitrary complexity that are formed according to the verified interconnection cases.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Apt, K.R., Francez, N., de Roever, W.P.: A proof system for communicating sequential processes. ACM Trans. Program. Lang. Syst. 2(3), 359–385 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Arozarena, P., et al.: Madeira: A peer-to-peer approach to network management. In: Proceedings of the Wireless World Research Forum (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Basagiannis, S., Katsaros, P., Pombortsis, A.: Interlocking control by distributed signal boxes: Design and verification with the spin model checker. In: Parallel and Distributed Processing and Applications, pp. 317–328 (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Campos, S., Clarke, E., Minea, M.: The verus tool: a quantitative approach to the formal verification of real-time systems. In: Grumberg, O. (ed.) CAV 1997. LNCS, vol. 1254, pp. 452–455. Springer, Heidelberg (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63166-6_46

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Cimatti, A., Giunchiglia, F., Mongardi, G., Romano, D., Torielli, F., Traverso, P.: Formal verification of a railway interlocking system using model checking. Formal Aspects of Comput. 10(4), 361–380 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cribbens, A.: Microprocessors in railway signalling: the solid-state interlocking. Microprocess. Microsyst. 11(5), 264–272 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. van Dijk, F., Fokkink, W., Kolk, G., van de Ven, P., van Vlijmen, B.: EURIS, a specification method for distributed interlockings. In: Ehrenberger, W. (ed.) SAFECOMP 1998. LNCS, vol. 1516, pp. 296–305. Springer, Heidelberg (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49646-7_23

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Gnesi, S., Latella, D., Lenzini, G., Abbaneo, C., Amendola, A., Marmo, P.: A formal specification and validation of a critical system in presence of byzantine errors. In: Graf, S., Schwartzbach, M. (eds.) TACAS 2000. LNCS, vol. 1785, pp. 535–549. Springer, Heidelberg (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46419-0_36

    Chapter  MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Hansen, K.M.: Formalizing railway interlocking systems. In: Proceedings of FME Rail Workshop #2. FME: Formal Methods Europe (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hartonas-Garmhausen, V., Campos, S., Cimatti, A., Clarke, E., Giunchiglia, F.: Verification of a safety-critical railway interlocking system with real-time constraints. Sci. Comput. Programm. 36(1), 53–64 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Haxthausen, A.E., Peleska, J.: Formal development and verification of a distributed railway control system. IEEE Trans. Soft. Eng. 26(8), 687–701 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hecht, M., Agron, J., Hecht, H., Kim, K.H.: A distributed fault tolerant architecture for nuclear reactor and other critical process control applications. In: [1991] Digest of Papers. The 21st International Symposium of Fault-Tolerant Computing, pp. 462–498, June 1991

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hlavaty, T., Preucil, L., Stepan, P., Klapka, S.: Formal methods in development and testing of safety-critical systems : railway interlocking system. In: Conference on Intelligent Methods for Quality Improvement in Industrial Practice, pp. 14–25 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Holzmann, G.J.: The model checker spin. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 23(5), 279–295 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Holzmann, G.: The SPIN Model Checker: Primer and Reference Manual, 1st edn. Addison-Wesley Professional, Boston (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Jain, A., Nelson, K., Bryant, R.E.: Verifying nondeterministic implementations of deterministic systems. In: Srivas, M., Camilleri, A. (eds.) FMCAD 1996. LNCS, vol. 1166, pp. 109–125. Springer, Heidelberg (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0031803

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Misra, J., Chandy, K.M.: Proofs of networks of processes. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. SE 7(4), 417–426 (1981)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. Roever, W.P., et al.: Concurrency Verification: Introduction to Compositional and Noncompositional Methods. Cambridge University Press, New York (2001)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. Simpson, A.: Model checking for interlocking safety. In: Proceedings of FME Rail Workshop #2. FME: Formal Methods Europe (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Winter, K., Robinson, N.J.: Modelling large railway interlockings and model checking small ones. In: Proceedings of 26th Australasian Computer Science Conference, ACSC 2003, vol. 16, pp. 309–316 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Panagiotis Katsaros .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Basagiannis, S., Katsaros, P. (2019). Formal Verification of Network Interlocking Control by Distributed Signal Boxes. In: Papadopoulos, Y., Aslansefat, K., Katsaros, P., Bozzano, M. (eds) Model-Based Safety and Assessment. IMBSA 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11842. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32872-6_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32872-6_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32871-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32872-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics