A Refinement Based Method for Developing Distributed Protocols

This paper presents a methodology for modelling and verification of high-assurance distributed protocols. In the paper we describe two main technical contributions needed for the development method: communication modelling patterns and a refinement strategy. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by developing a new distributed resource allocation protocol. We also discuss the necessity of integrating other tools such as stochastic model checkers for enabling verification of wider range of protocol properties.