  We consider the problem of automating the verification of distributed control
software relying on publish-subscribe middleware. In this scenario, the main
challenge is that software correctness depends intrinsically on correct usage
of middleware components, but structured models of such components might not be
available for analysis, e.g., because they are too large and complex to be
described precisely in a cost-effective way. To overcome this problem, we
propose to identify abstract models of middleware as finite-state automata, and
then to perform verification on the combined middleware and control software
models. Both steps are carried out in a computer-assisted way using
state-of-the-art techniques in automata-based identification and verification.
Our main contribution is to show that the combination of identification and
verification is feasible and useful when considering typical issues that arise
in the implementation of distributed control software.
