A Theory of Consistency for Modular Synchronous Systems

We propose a model for modular synchronous systems with combinational dependencies and define consistency using this model. We then show how to derive this model from a modular specification where individual modules are specified as Kripke Structures and give an algorithm to check the system for consistency. We have implemented this algorithm symbolically using BDDs in a tool, SpecCheck. We have used this tool to check an example bus protocol derived from an industrial specification. The counterexamples obtained for this protocol highlight the need for consistency checking.