Thread-based multi-engine model checking for multicore platforms

This article describes a multithreaded, portfolio-based approach to model checking, where multiple cores are exploited as the underlying computing framework to support concurrent execution of cooperative engines. We introduce a portfolio-based approach to model checking. Our portfolio is first driven by an approximate runtime predictor that provides a heuristic approximation to a perfect oracle and suggests which engines are more suitable for each verification instance. Scalability and robustness of the overall model-checking effort highly rely on a concurrent, multithreaded model of execution. Following similar approaches in related application fields, we dovetail data partitioning, focused on proving several properties in parallel, and engine partitioning, based on concurrent runs of different model-checking engines competing for completion of the same problem. We investigate concurrency not only to effectively exploit several available engines, which operate independently, but also to show that a cooperative effort is possible. In this case, we adopt a straightforward, light-weight, model of inter-engine communication and data sharing. We provide a detailed description of the ideas, algorithms, and experimental results obtained on the benchmarks from the Hardware Model Checking Competition suites (HWMCC'10 and HWMCC'11).