. Uppaal and Scsi Protocol Example List of Figures

Formal methods that are easy to use but with limited flexibility are sometimes criticized as inefficient and ineffective. This report took a detailed look at UPPAAL1 [1], a toolbox for modeling, simulating and verifying real-time systems, that is jointly developed by Uppsala University and Aalborg University. Specifically, components of the UPPAAL toolbox, the modeling language and the verification language are investigated. A Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus protocol example is presented to illustrate various features of UPPAAL. In addition, there are discussions regarding advantages and tradeoffs in using UPPAAL. It is concluded that UPPAAL is still in its infant research state and is currently suitable for modeling small real-time systems only. In general, formal methods should be able to model a reasonable variety of systems. Even if they are designed for restricted application domains, they should be flexible enough to satisfy common needs in those domains to be qualified as useful formal methods. It is apparent that UPPAAL does not meet the expectations of a useful formal method although a general conclusion cannot be drawn, as UPPAAL just happens to be a bad example that is in its early development stage. The author still believes that there is a need for formal methods that are user-friendly and the goal can be accomplished.