Technology Category
Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Mixed Discrete/Continuous PlanningMultiagent Systems: Agent CommunicationConstraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Optimization
Formal Analysis of Networked PLC Controllers Interacting with Physical Environments
🤖 AI Summary
Existing formal verification methods primarily target isolated PLC programs, neglecting their continuous dynamic interaction with the physical environment and networked communication among controllers—thus failing to capture the coupling between communication delays and closed-loop control inherent in real-world industrial systems. This work proposes the first unified formal framework integrating PLC semantics, network communication modeling, and continuous physical dynamics. Leveraging hybrid systems theory and discrete-event modeling, we construct a compositional closed-loop model enabling co-verification of cyber and physical components. To mitigate state-space explosion, we introduce a partial-order reduction technique that preserves verification correctness while significantly compressing the state space. Our approach achieves, for the first time, precise modeling and scalable formal verification of networked PLC systems subject to both communication delays and continuous physical dynamics.
Technology Category
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are widely used in industrial automation to control physical systems. As PLC applications become increasingly complex, ensuring their correctness is crucial. Existing formal verification techniques focus on individual PLC programs in isolation, often neglecting interactions with physical environments and network communication between controllers. This limitation poses significant challenges in analyzing real-world industrial systems, where continuous dynamics and communication delays play a critical role. In this paper, we present a unified formal framework that integrates discrete PLC semantics, networked communication, and continuous physical behaviors. To mitigate state explosion, we apply partial order reduction, significantly reducing the number of explored states while maintaining correctness. Our framework enables precise analysis of PLC-driven systems with continuous dynamics and networked communication.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Analyzing networked PLC controllers interacting with physical environments
Integrating discrete PLC semantics with continuous physical behaviors
Mitigating state explosion in formal verification of PLC systems
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Unified framework integrating PLC, network, physics
Partial order reduction to mitigate state explosion
Precise analysis of networked PLC with continuous dynamics
🔎 Similar Papers
No similar papers found.
