Checking SysML Models for Co-simulation

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are often treated modularly to tackle both complexity and heterogeneity; and their validation may be done modularly by co-simulation: the coupling of the individual subsystem simulations. This modular approach underlies the FMI standard. This paper presents an approach to verify both healthiness and wellformedness of an architectural design, expressed using a profile of SysML, as a prelude to FMI co-simulation. This checks the conformity of component connectors and the absence of algebraic loops, necessary for cosimulation convergence. Verification of these properties involves theorem proving and model-checking using: Fragmenta, a formal theory for representing typed visual models, with its mechanisation in the Isabelle/HOL proof assistant, and the CSP process algebra and its FDR3 model-checker. The paper’s contributions lie in: a SysML profile for architectural modelling supporting multi-modelling and co-simulation; our approach to check the adequacy of a SysML model for co-simulation using theorem proving and model-checking; our verification and transformation workbench for typed visual models based on Fragmenta and Isabelle; an approach to detect algebraic loops using CSP and FDR3; and a comparison of approaches to the detection of algebraic loops.