Distributed Verification of Rare Properties using Importance Splitting Observers

Abstract: Rare properties remain a challenge for statistical model checking (SMC) due to the quadratic scaling of variance with rarity. We address this with a variance reduction framework based on lightweight importance splitting observers. These expose the model-property automaton to allow the construction of score functions for high performance algorithms. The confidence intervals defined for importance splitting make it appealing for SMC, but optimising its performance in the standard way makes distribution inefficient. We show how it is possible to achieve equivalently good results in less time by distributing simpler algorithms. We first explore the challenges posed by importance splitting and present an algorithm optimised for distribution. We then define a specific bounded time logic that is compiled into memory-efficient observers to monitor executions. Finally, we demonstrate our framework on a number of challenging case studies.