1,022 research outputs found
Sciduction: Combining Induction, Deduction, and Structure for Verification and Synthesis
Even with impressive advances in automated formal methods, certain problems
in system verification and synthesis remain challenging. Examples include the
verification of quantitative properties of software involving constraints on
timing and energy consumption, and the automatic synthesis of systems from
specifications. The major challenges include environment modeling,
incompleteness in specifications, and the complexity of underlying decision
problems.
This position paper proposes sciduction, an approach to tackle these
challenges by integrating inductive inference, deductive reasoning, and
structure hypotheses. Deductive reasoning, which leads from general rules or
concepts to conclusions about specific problem instances, includes techniques
such as logical inference and constraint solving. Inductive inference, which
generalizes from specific instances to yield a concept, includes algorithmic
learning from examples. Structure hypotheses are used to define the class of
artifacts, such as invariants or program fragments, generated during
verification or synthesis. Sciduction constrains inductive and deductive
reasoning using structure hypotheses, and actively combines inductive and
deductive reasoning: for instance, deductive techniques generate examples for
learning, and inductive reasoning is used to guide the deductive engines.
We illustrate this approach with three applications: (i) timing analysis of
software; (ii) synthesis of loop-free programs, and (iii) controller synthesis
for hybrid systems. Some future applications are also discussed
Synthesizing Switching Controllers for Hybrid Systems by Continuous Invariant Generation
We extend a template-based approach for synthesizing switching controllers
for semi-algebraic hybrid systems, in which all expressions are polynomials.
This is achieved by combining a QE (quantifier elimination)-based method for
generating continuous invariants with a qualitative approach for predefining
templates. Our synthesis method is relatively complete with regard to a given
family of predefined templates. Using qualitative analysis, we discuss
heuristics to reduce the numbers of parameters appearing in the templates. To
avoid too much human interaction in choosing templates as well as the high
computational complexity caused by QE, we further investigate applications of
the SOS (sum-of-squares) relaxation approach and the template polyhedra
approach in continuous invariant generation, which are both well supported by
efficient numerical solvers
Synthesis for Constrained Nonlinear Systems using Hybridization and Robust Controllers on Simplices
In this paper, we propose an approach to controller synthesis for a class of
constrained nonlinear systems. It is based on the use of a hybridization, that
is a hybrid abstraction of the nonlinear dynamics. This abstraction is defined
on a triangulation of the state-space where on each simplex of the
triangulation, the nonlinear dynamics is conservatively approximated by an
affine system subject to disturbances. Except for the disturbances, this
hybridization can be seen as a piecewise affine hybrid system on simplices for
which appealing control synthesis techniques have been developed in the past
decade. We extend these techniques to handle systems subject to disturbances by
synthesizing and coordinating local robust affine controllers defined on the
simplices of the triangulation. We show that the resulting hybrid controller
can be used to control successfully the original constrained nonlinear system.
Our approach, though conservative, can be fully automated and is
computationally tractable. To show its effectiveness in practical applications,
we apply our method to control a pendulum mounted on a cart
CHARDA: Causal Hybrid Automata Recovery via Dynamic Analysis
We propose and evaluate a new technique for learning hybrid automata
automatically by observing the runtime behavior of a dynamical system. Working
from a sequence of continuous state values and predicates about the
environment, CHARDA recovers the distinct dynamic modes, learns a model for
each mode from a given set of templates, and postulates causal guard conditions
which trigger transitions between modes. Our main contribution is the use of
information-theoretic measures (1)~as a cost function for data segmentation and
model selection to penalize over-fitting and (2)~to determine the likely causes
of each transition. CHARDA is easily extended with different classes of model
templates, fitting methods, or predicates. In our experiments on a complex
videogame character, CHARDA successfully discovers a reasonable
over-approximation of the character's true behaviors. Our results also compare
favorably against recent work in automatically learning probabilistic timed
automata in an aircraft domain: CHARDA exactly learns the modes of these
simpler automata.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for IJCAI 201
Algorithmic Verification of Continuous and Hybrid Systems
We provide a tutorial introduction to reachability computation, a class of
computational techniques that exports verification technology toward continuous
and hybrid systems. For open under-determined systems, this technique can
sometimes replace an infinite number of simulations.Comment: In Proceedings INFINITY 2013, arXiv:1402.661
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