Overview
Background
Associate Professor Graeme Smith has over 100 publications in the area of formal, i.e., mathematically based, design and analysis of software and software-based systems. His seminal work on formal object-oriented modelling has found application in the telecommunications and railways sectors, and that on real-time embedded systems in the Defence sector. He has worked at the Software Verification Research Centre (Australia), GMD First (Germany), the Technical University of Berlin (Germany), and the Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Nancy (France). Since his current appointment at The University of Queensland, he has led 3 ARC Discovery Grants on formal design and analysis of fault-tolerant systems, distributed autonomous systems, and lock-free concurrent algorithms, respectively. He currently leads a research cell of the Defence Science and Technology Group focussed on formal security analysis of concurrent code.
Availability
- Associate Professor Graeme Smith is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Engineering, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Formal Methods
Formal, i.e., mathematically based, design and analysis of software and software-based systems. Primary expertise lies in the application of formal techniques to functional correctness and security of concurrent programs. In particular, techniques based on refinement for functional correctness, and information flow for security. Secondary expertise lies in the formal design and analysis of component-based systems, including highly distributed systems such as self-organising and multi-agent systems, and object-oriented programs where expertise extends to formal refactoring techniques for improving object-oriented designs.
Research impacts
Associate Professor Graeme Smith’s research has had the following impact outside of academia:
His research on formal obejct-oriented modelling has been used
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to specify and verify the design of a fault-tolerant telecommunications platform for the Overseas Telecommunications Corporation, Australia, in 1989
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in business process specifications at Bellcore, New Jersey, USA, in 1994
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in the description of the ISO standard, PREMO (Presentation Environments for Multimedia Objects) in 1994
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in software engineering projects at Motorola, Arizona, USA, in 1999
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in a Queensland Rail project for documenting design specifications for interlocking systems in 2003
His research into modelling continuous, real-time systems was used to improve the quality of the documentation of requirements for the flight control unit of the Nulka Active Missile Decoy being developed by BAE Systems, Australia, in 2000.
His ARC Discovery Grant research on fault-tolerant systems was adopted by the Defence Signals Directorate, Australia, for verifying a fault-tolerant security device in 2007.
His ARC Discovery Grant research on model checking concurrent objects was the subject of a joint patent application with Oracle Labs, Australia, in 2016.
Works
Search Professor Graeme Smith’s works on UQ eSpace
1999
Conference Publication
Specification and refinement of a real-time control system
Smith, G. P. (1999). Specification and refinement of a real-time control system. 22nd Australasian Computer Science Conference, Auckland, NZ, 18-21 Jan, 1999. Auckland, NZ: Springer Verlag.
1999
Conference Publication
From ideal to realisable real-time specifications
Smith, G. P. (1999). From ideal to realisable real-time specifications. New Zealand Formal Program Development Colloquium, Auckland, NZ, 22 Jan, 1999. NZ: Inst Information & Mathematical Sciences, Massey Uni, NZ.
1997
Conference Publication
Refinement and verification of concurrent systems specified in Object-Z and CSP
Smith, Graeme and Derrick, John (1997). Refinement and verification of concurrent systems specified in Object-Z and CSP. Proceedings of the 1997 1st International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM, , , November 12, 1997-November 14, 1997. IEEE Comp Soc.
1997
Conference Publication
A semantic integration of object-Z and CSP for the specification of concurrent systems
Smith, Graeme (1997). A semantic integration of object-Z and CSP for the specification of concurrent systems. 4th International Symposium of Formal Methods Europe, FME 1997, Graz, , September 15, 1997-September 19, 1997. Springer Verlag. doi: 10.1007/3-540-63533-5_4
1996
Journal Article
A blocking model for reactive objects
Duke, Roger, Bailes, Cecily and Smith, Graeme (1996). A blocking model for reactive objects. Formal Aspects of Computing, 8 (3), 347-368. doi: 10.1007/BF01214919
1995
Journal Article
Object-Z: A specification language advocated for the description of standards
Duke R., Rose G. and Smith G. (1995). Object-Z: A specification language advocated for the description of standards. Computer Standards and Interfaces, 17 (5-6), 511-533. doi: 10.1016/0920-5489(95)00024-O
1995
Conference Publication
Extending W for object-Z
Smith, Graeme (1995). Extending W for object-Z. 9th International Conference of Z Users Meeting, ZUM 1995, Limerick, , September 7, 1995-September 9, 1995. Springer Verlag.
1995
Journal Article
A fully abstract semantics of classes for Object-Z
Smith, Graeme (1995). A fully abstract semantics of classes for Object-Z. Formal Aspects of Computing, 7 (3), 289-313. doi: 10.1007/BF01211075
1994
Conference Publication
Formal definitions of behavioural compatibility for active and passive objects
Smith, G. (1994). Formal definitions of behavioural compatibility for active and passive objects. 1st Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference, APSEC 1994, Tokyo, Japan, 7 - 9 December 1994. Piscataway, NJ United States: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/APSEC.1994.465246
1991
Book
The object-Z specification language: version 1
Duke, Roger, King, Paul, Rose, Gordon and Smith, Graeme (1991). The object-Z specification language: version 1. SVRC Technical Report, 91-1. Software Verification Research Centre, Department of Computer Science, The University of Queensland.
Funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Graeme Smith is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Verified Secure Compilation for C-like Programs
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Mark Utting
Completed supervision
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2012
Master Philosophy
FORMAL PROPERTY PRESERVATION AND TRANSFORMATION IN SOFTWARE EVOLUTION
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Ian Hayes
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2007
Doctor Philosophy
Formal Derivation of Object-Oriented Designs
Principal Advisor
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2007
Doctor Philosophy
A Behaviour-based methodology for fault tree generation.
Associate Advisor
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2005
Doctor Philosophy
ANIMATION AND VISUALISATION OF REFINEMENTS
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
Contact Associate Professor Graeme Smith directly for media enquiries about:
- Formal methods
- Mathematical modelling
- Multi-agent systems
- Self-adaptive systems
- Software-intensive systems
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