### Verification techniques for cache coherence protocolsVerification techniques for cache coherence protocols

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 Author Pong, Fong ♦ Dubois, Michel Source ACM Digital Library Content type Text Publisher Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) File Format PDF Copyright Year ©1997 Language English
 Subject Domain (in DDC) Computer science, information & general works ♦ Data processing & computer science Subject Keyword Cache coherence ♦ Finite state machine ♦ Protocol verification ♦ Shared-memory multiprocessors ♦ State representation and expansion Abstract In this article we present a comprehensive survey of various approaches for the verification of cache coherence protocols based on state enumeration, (symbolic model checking, and symbolic state models. Since these techniques search the state space of the protocol exhaustively, the amount of memory required to manipulate that state information and the verification time grow very fast with the number of processors and the complexity of the protocol mechanisms. To be successful for systems of arbitrary complexity, a verification technique must solve this so-called state space explosion problem. The emphasis of our discussion is onthe underlying theory in each method of handling the state space exposion problem, and formulationg and checking the $\textit{safety}$ properties (e.g., data consistency) and the $\textit{liveness}$ properties (absence of deadlock and livelock). We compare the efficiency and discuss the limitations of each technique in terms of memory and computation time. Also, we discuss issues of generality, applicability, automaticity, and amenity for existing tools in each class of methods. No method is truly superior because each method has its own strengths and weaknesses. Finally, refinements that can further reduce the verification time and/or the memory requirement are also discussed. ISSN 03600300 Age Range 18 to 22 years ♦ above 22 year Educational Use Research Education Level UG and PG Learning Resource Type Article Publisher Date 1997-03-01 Publisher Place New York e-ISSN 15577341 Journal ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) Volume Number 29 Issue Number 1 Page Count 45 Starting Page 82 Ending Page 126

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Source: ACM Digital Library