Verification of applied programs generation and loading for safety systems of nuclear power plants based on a reverse-engineering method

6/22/2018 2018 - #02 Modelling processes at nuclear facilities

Belonosov M.A. Kishkin V.L. Korolev S.A.

https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2018.2.14

The article describes the automatic verification method used for application software of digital safety systems based on the TPTS-SB equipment. Verification is performed by comparing two mathematical models (oriented graphs): one obtained by processing the original design data, i.e., graphical functional diagrams, and the other formed by reversing the applied program code downloaded from the microcontroller. The vertices in both graphs are the functional blocks of mathematical and logical operations, while the edges are the connections between them. Over the constructed mathematical models, a comparison procedure is performed: the vertices and edges of the graphs are compared as well as the parameters of the graph vertices. The equivalence of mathematical models is the proof of the correspondence between the program code and the initial set of design functional diagrams.

The proposed automatic verification method makes it possible to prove that no distortion is introduced into the program during the process of converting graphical functional diagrams to the program code with its subsequent translation and loading into the microcontroller. It is postulated that any distortions will be detected during the verification procedure, which is regularly performed every time after loading the code into the microcontroller.

The solution also provides an acceptable speed when processing large volumes of vector graphics stored in a relational database, and makes it possible to visualize the verification results. The proposed method is implemented in the GET-R1 instrumentation tools for TPTS-SB and is used in designing and verifying the application software of the security systems at the Belarusian NPP.

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verification reverse engineering code generation safety systems microcontroller mathematical model instrumentation tools

Link for citing the article: Belonosov M.A., Kishkin V.L., Korolev S.A. Verification of applied programs generation and loading for safety systems of nuclear power plants based on a reverse-engineering method. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2018, no. 2, pp. 146-156; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2018.2.14 (in Russian).