Efficient verification of symmetric concurrent systems

Previously (Proc. 11th Symp. on Computer Hardware Description Languages and their Application, April 1993), we proposed a reduction technique based on symmetries to alleviate the state explosion problem in automatic verification of concurrent systems. This paper describes the results of testing the technique on a wide range of algorithms and protocols, including realistic multiprocessor synchronization algorithms and cache coherence protocols. Memory requirements were reduced by amounts ranging from 83% to over 99%, and time requirements were often reduced as well. We also consider the effectiveness of the technique on different types of symmetries, such as symmetries in identical system components and symmetries in data values