pState: A probabilistic statecharts translator

We describe pState, an experimental software toolkit for the design, validation and formal verification of complex systems. Classical statecharts are extended with probabilistic transitions, costs/rewards, and state invariants. Probabilistic choice can be used to model randomized algorithms or unreliable systems. Costs/rewards can be used to compute quantitative properties such as expected power consumption or expected number of lost messages in model of some communication protocol. State invariants are used to express safety conditions or consistency constraints. The charts are validated and transformed into an intermediate representation, from which code for various languages can be generated.