Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 46, No. 3, 2013 195
Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Model checking-based safety verification for railway
signal safety protocol-I
Mei Meng*, Xu Zhongwei, Wang Xi and Wan Yongbing
School of Electronics and Information Engineering,
Tongji University,
No. 4800 Cao’an Highway, Shanghai, China
E-mail: mei_meng@163.com
E-mail: xuzhongweish@163.com
E-mail: wang_xi_happy@163.com
E-mail: wybingsh@163.com
*Corresponding author
Abstract: RSSP-I is one kind of safety communication protocol in signal system of China
high-speed railways, which is needed to be verified in safety properties while assessing the whole
system. Model checking is an effective way for verifying the safety properties of communication
protocols. This paper proposes a new method based on labelled transition system (LTS) model
checking for verifying the safety communication protocol’s safety properties. First, it retrieves
the safety requirement of RSSP-I, then adopts LTS to model the interaction behaviours in the
system, after that, it analyses and verifies the safety properties of the model by means of LTSA
(LTS analyser). The result of verification illustrates that the method can be efficiently applied to
safety properties verification of protocol. Moreover, the method can be used to improve the
designing and developing the safety protocols as well.
Keywords: model checking; labelled transition system; LTS; safety; RSSP.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Meng, M., Zhongwei, X., Xi, W. and
Yongbing, W. (2013) ‘Model checking-based safety verification for railway signal safety
protocol-I’, Int. J. Computer Applications in Technology, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp.195–202.
Biographical notes: Mei Meng received his BEng in 2000 and a Masters degree in 2005 from
Tongji University, China. He is a Lecturer in School of Electronic and Information Engineering
of Tongji University. He is currently a PhD graduate student in Tongji University. His research
interests include communications-based train control systems and formal methods.
Xu Zhongwei is Professor and PhD Advisor of Computer Software and Theory at Tongji
University in 2005. His research interests include formal methods and their application in
safety-critical systems, distributed systems and embedded systems.
Wang Xi received her Masters degree in 2008 from Jiangxi University of Science and
Technology, China. She is currently a PhD graduate student in Tongji University and will receive
her PhD in 2012. Her research interests include model checking, formal methods and technology,
safety analysis and evaluation for high dependable software.
Wan Yongbing received his BS from Nanchang Hangkong University, China in 2003 and MS
from Jiangxi Normal University, China in 2009. Currently, he works on his PhD at School of
Electronics and Information Engineering in Tongji University, China. His research interests
include validation, verification and testing of safety-critical software.
1 Introduction
Distributed systems comprised of electrical and/or
electronic components have been used for many years to
perform safety functions in most application sectors and
complexity engineering (Frei and Serugendo, 2011a, 2011b;
Green, 2011). Computer-based transmission systems are
being used increasingly in most application sectors to
perform safety functions. If computer system technology is
to be effectively and safely exploited, it is essential that
those responsible for making decisions have sufficient
guidance on the safety aspects on which to make those
decisions (IEC 61508, 1998). Protocols have a great
responsibility to ensure the safety of the transmission
system. RSSP-I (YuJinXinHao, 2010) is one kind of safety
communication protocol in signal system of China high-
speed railways. According to IEC 62280-1 (2002), for
safety purposes considered, one physical transmission path
is sufficient. Safety aspects are covered by applying safety
procedures and a safety code which are implemented inside