Semi-Automated Design Space Exploration for Formal Modelling
This work addresses difficulties for designers in formal methods by offering incremental assistance in model exploration.
The paper tackles the challenges of refinement-based formal modeling, such as finding abstraction levels and invariants, by proposing a semi-automated Design Space Exploration approach that provides real-time modeling guidance and proposes suitable fault-handling models.
Refinement based formal methods allow the modelling of systems through incremental steps via abstraction. Discovering the right levels of abstraction, formulating correct and meaningful invariants, and analysing faulty models are some of the challenges faced when using this technique. Here, we propose Design Space Exploration, an approach that aims to assist a designer by automatically providing high-level modelling guidance in real-time. More specifically, through the combination of common patterns of modelling with techniques from automated theory formation and automated reasoning, different design alternatives are explored and suitable models that deal with faults are proposed.