K-ST: A formal executable semantics of the structured text language for PLCs

• Main Authors: WANG, Kun, WANG, Jingyi, POSKITT, Christopher M., CHEN, Xiangxiang, SUN, Jun, CHENG, Peng
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: formal executable semantics; PLC programming; structured text; K framework; OpenPLC; Programming Languages and Compilers; Software Engineering; Theory and Algorithms
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/8199; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/9202/viewcontent/k_st_structured_text_tse23_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are responsible for automating process control in many industrial systems (e.g. in manufacturing and public infrastructure), and thus it is critical to ensure that they operate correctly and safely. The majority of PLCs are programmed in languages such as Structured Text (ST). However, a lack of formal semantics makes it difficult to ascertain the correctness of their translators and compilers, which vary from vendor-to-vendor. In this work, we develop K-ST, a formal executable semantics for ST in the K framework. Defined with respect to the IEC 61131-3 standard and PLC vendor manuals, K-ST is a high-level reference semantics that can be used to evaluate the correctness and consistency of different ST implementations. We validate K-ST by executing 567 ST programs extracted from GitHub and comparing the results against existing commercial compilers (i.e., CODESYS, CX-Programmer, and GX Works2). We then apply K-ST to validate the implementation of the open source OpenPLC platform, comparing the executions of several test programs to uncover five bugs and nine functional defects in the compiler.