Bounded Model Checking with SNF,Alternating Automata,and Büchi Automata

Model checking of LTL formulæis traditionally carried out by a conversion to Büchi automata, and there is therefore a large body of research in this area including some recent studies on the use of alternating automata as an intermediate representation.Bounded model checking has until recently been apart from this, typically using a direct conversion from LTL to propositional logic. In this paper we give a new bounded model checking encoding using alternating automata and focus on the relationship between alternating automata and SNF. We also explore the differences in the way SNF, alternating, and Büchi automata are used from both a theoretical and an experimental perspective.