Transforming UML 'Collaborating' Statecharts for Verification and Simulation

• Main Authors: Patrick O. Bobbie, Yiming Ji, Lusheng Liang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Institute of Informatics and Cybernetics 2003-04-01
• Series: Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics
• Subjects: database; Promela; Model Checking; XMI; UML; SPIN
• Online Access: http://www.iiisci.org/Journal/CV$/sci/pdfs/000787.pdf

Due to the increasing complexity of real world problems, it is costly and difficult to validate today's software-intensive systems. The research reported in the paper describes our experiences in developing and applying a set of methodologies for specifying, verifying, and validating system temporal behavior expressed as UML statecharts. The methods combine such techniques/paradigms and technologies as UML, XMI, database, model checking, and simulation. The toolset we are developing accepts XMI input files as an intermediate metadata format. The metadata is then parsed and transformed into databases and related syntax-driven data structures. From the parsed data, we subsequently generate Promela code, which embodies the behavioral semantics and properties of the statechart elements. Compiling and executing Promela automatically invokes SPIN, the underlying temporal logic-based tool for checking the logical consistency of the statecharts' interactions and properties. We validate and demonstrate our methodology by modeling and simulation using both ArgoUML and Rhapsody™, respectively.