An action/state-based model-checking approach for the analysis of communication protocols for service-oriented applications

In this paper we present an action/state-based logical framework for the analysis and verification of complex systems, which relies on the definition of doubly labelled transition systems. The defined temporal logic, called UCTL, combines the action paradigm classically used to describe systems using labelled transition systems with predicates that are true over states as captured when using Kripke structures as semantic model. An efficient model checker for UCTL has been realized, exploiting an on-the-fly algorithm. We then show how to use UCTL, and its model checker, in the design phase of an asynchronous extension of the communication protocol SOAP, called aSOAP. For this purpose, we describe aSOAP as a set of communicating UML state machines, for which a semantics over doubly labelled transition systems has been provided.