Translation of UML 2 Activity Diagrams into Finite State Machines for Model Checking

Activity diagrams are part of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to specify a system´s behavior. This formalism has been substantially revised in UML 2. Concepts like signal handling and interruptible activity regions were introduced. By using a token flow semantics for describing the execution, activities drift apart from state diagrams. Therefore, it is no more possible to apply verification techniques designed for state diagrams to activity diagrams. This problem is faced by introducing a transformation of activities into a state transition system covering the basic concepts of activity diagrams including but not limited to the aforementioned ones.