On the formal verification of routing in material handling systems

The correct design of complex material handling systems (MHS) is a challenging task, mainly because of short development cycles and ever increasing system sizes. For baggage handling systems (BHS) at airports, the correct design of routing strategies is of special importance, as these strategies are non-trivial but safety-critical. This paper presents a novel approach to prove the correctness of routing in MHS. The approach is based on assume-guarantee reasoning which allows to derive proofs of the overall system using a divide and conquer strategy. The proposed approach is automated and has been implemented in a tool. The application of the approach is shown using a real-world BHS.