π-calculus with noisy channels

Publication Type:
Journal Article
Citation:
Acta Informatica, 2005, 41 (9), pp. 525 - 593
Issue Date:
2005-10-01
Full metadata record
It is assumed in the π-calculus that communication channels are always noiseless. But it is usually not the case in the mobile systems that developers are faced with in the real life. In this paper, we introduce an extension of π, called πN, in which noisy channels may be present. A probabilistic transitional semantics of πN is given. The notions of approximate (strong) bisimilarity and equivalence between agents in π N are proposed, and various algebraic laws for them are established. In particular, we introduce the notion of stratified bisimulation which is suited to describe behavior equivalence between infinite probabilistic processes. Some useful techniques for reasoning about approximate bisimilarity and equivalence are developed. We also introduce a notion of reliability in order to compare different behaviors of an agent in π and πN. It is shown that reliability is preserved by the basic combinators in π. A link between reliability and bisimulation is given. This provides us with a uniform framework in which we can reason about both correctness properties and reliability of mobile systems. Also, a potential way of combing value-passing process algebras and Shannon's information theory is pointed out. © Springer-Verlag 2005.
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