An analysis of SAT-based model checking techniques in an industrial environment

  • Authors:
  • Nina Amla;Xiaoqun Du;Andreas Kuehlmann;Robert P. Kurshan;Kenneth L. McMillan

  • Affiliations:
  • Cadence Design Systems;Cadence Design Systems;Cadence Design Systems;Cadence Design Systems;Cadence Design Systems

  • Venue:
  • CHARME'05 Proceedings of the 13 IFIP WG 10.5 international conference on Correct Hardware Design and Verification Methods
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

Model checking is a formal technique for automatically verifying that a finite-state model satisfies a temporal property. In model checking, generally Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) are used to efficiently encode the transition relation of the finite-state model. Recently model checking algorithms based on Boolean satisfiability (SAT) procedures have been developed to complement the traditional BDD-based model checking. These algorithms can be broadly classified into three categories: (1) bounded model checking which is useful for finding failures (2) hybrid algorithms that combine SAT and BDD based methods for unbounded model checking, and (3) purely SAT-based unbounded model checking algorithms. The goal of this paper is to provide a uniform and comprehensive basis for evaluating these algorithms. The paper describes eight bounded and unbounded techniques, and analyzes the performance of these algorithms on a large and diverse set of hardware benchmarks.