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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Formally Verifying a Programmable Network Switch

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Programmable network switches are complex pieces of hardware that leverage nonobvious optimizations such as pipelining to offer flexible configuration interfaces. In this thesis, we propose a novel formal-verification methodology aimed at establishing strong correctness theorems for synthesizable hardware designs for network functionality, demonstrated through a case-study analysis of a Tofino-like programmable switch that we call VeriSwit. Our approach hinges on modularity, whereby the system is split into interconnected units, each equipped with its specification and proof, oblivious to the internals of other units. We conduct VeriSwit’s modular verification in the Coq theorem prover. Experiments with synthesis for both FPGA and ASIC targets, combined with simulation, show that 100 GB/s line rate is easily achieved.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master
Department dc:contributor.department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2024

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Liu, Jiazheng
Advisors dc:contributor.advisor
  • Chlipala, Adam
  • Arvind

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
  • Copyright retained by author(s)

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156273
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/156273

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Liu, Jiazheng. Formally Verifying a Programmable Network Switch. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156273