Method for analyzing a Programmable Logic Controller program

This invention describes a way to automatically check if a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) program, which controls industrial machines, works correctly and safely. It does this by first converting the PLC program and the user's desired behaviors into a special mathematical language. Then, an automated computer program checks if the PLC program can ever do something wrong according to those desired behaviors, and if so, it shows exactly what inputs and internal states would lead to that error, helping engineers fix the problem.

Why it matters: Filed before significant advancements in AI-driven formal verification tools and solver performance, which could now make the complex translation and verification steps more efficient and robust. The increasing complexity of industrial automation also heightens the need for such rigorous automated program analysis.

Status: Not in forceListed as no longer active. The specific reason is not in the record we hold.
How hard to build: SpecializedSoftware logic, formal verification, PLC programming

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