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The Formalization and Analysis of a Communications Protocol

S. Anderson and G. Bruns

Abstract: The MSMIE protocol allow processors in a distributed system to communicate via shared memory. It was designed to meet the reliability and efficiency needs of applications such as nuclear safety systems. We present a formal model of the MSMIE protocol expressed in the notation CCS. Desirable properties of the protocol are expressed in the modal mu-calculus, an expressive modal logic. We show that the protocol lacks an important liveness property. In actual operation, additional operating constraints are checked to avoid potential problems. We present a modified protocol and show that it possesses the liveness property even without checking operating constraints. We also show how parts of the analyis were automated with the Concurrency Workbench.

LFCS report ECS-LFCS-91-137

This report was published in Formal Aspects of Computing, 6:92-112, 1994.

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