Prospectus Decomposing Digital - system Specifications into Interacting Sequential Processes

This 2-year project description is part of the Digital Design Derivation Project of the Hardware Methods Laboratory, Computer Science Department, Indiana University. Participating researchers, students, and staff include Prof. Steven D. Johnson, Prof. David E. Winkel, Bhaskar Bose, Zheng Zhu, Kamlesh Rath, Esen Tuna, C. David Boyer, and Willie Hunt. The 2-year project investigates sequential decomposition: a process by which higher specifications of digital-system behavior are broken down into interacting sequential subsystems. We will develop a treatment in the framework of functional algebra, defining formal representations for relevant abstractions, building a set of transformations for manipulating these representations, and incorporating these transformations in a mechanical reasoning system for hardware derivation. The aim is to develop a “correct-by-construction” method of verification that is on an equal footing with deductive formalisms (theorem provers) in use today. An interaction scheme P [f ] is a formula expressing a protocol between two processes but abstract with respect to function f . Given a procedure F we want to construct an instance P [F ] of the interaction. For an expression E[F ] that uses F , the goal is to factor E into a complementary instance, E[P̄ [F ]], in a manner that preserves a suitable notion of equivalence. That is, we want E[F ] ≈ E[P̄ [F ]] ◦ P [F ] A number of demonstration experiments will be performed to illustrate results of the theoretical work. They will include at least two full-system prototypes, to be developed in the Indiana University Hardware Methods Laboratory.