4,296 research outputs found
Mean-payoff Automaton Expressions
Quantitative languages are an extension of boolean languages that assign to
each word a real number. Mean-payoff automata are finite automata with
numerical weights on transitions that assign to each infinite path the long-run
average of the transition weights. When the mode of branching of the automaton
is deterministic, nondeterministic, or alternating, the corresponding class of
quantitative languages is not robust as it is not closed under the pointwise
operations of max, min, sum, and numerical complement. Nondeterministic and
alternating mean-payoff automata are not decidable either, as the quantitative
generalization of the problems of universality and language inclusion is
undecidable.
We introduce a new class of quantitative languages, defined by mean-payoff
automaton expressions, which is robust and decidable: it is closed under the
four pointwise operations, and we show that all decision problems are decidable
for this class. Mean-payoff automaton expressions subsume deterministic
mean-payoff automata, and we show that they have expressive power incomparable
to nondeterministic and alternating mean-payoff automata. We also present for
the first time an algorithm to compute distance between two quantitative
languages, and in our case the quantitative languages are given as mean-payoff
automaton expressions
Weighted Logics for Nested Words and Algebraic Formal Power Series
Nested words, a model for recursive programs proposed by Alur and Madhusudan,
have recently gained much interest. In this paper we introduce quantitative
extensions and study nested word series which assign to nested words elements
of a semiring. We show that regular nested word series coincide with series
definable in weighted logics as introduced by Droste and Gastin. For this we
establish a connection between nested words and the free bisemigroup. Applying
our result, we obtain characterizations of algebraic formal power series in
terms of weighted logics. This generalizes results of Lautemann, Schwentick and
Therien on context-free languages
Near-Optimal Scheduling for LTL with Future Discounting
We study the search problem for optimal schedulers for the linear temporal
logic (LTL) with future discounting. The logic, introduced by Almagor, Boker
and Kupferman, is a quantitative variant of LTL in which an event in the far
future has only discounted contribution to a truth value (that is a real number
in the unit interval [0, 1]). The precise problem we study---it naturally
arises e.g. in search for a scheduler that recovers from an internal error
state as soon as possible---is the following: given a Kripke frame, a formula
and a number in [0, 1] called a margin, find a path of the Kripke frame that is
optimal with respect to the formula up to the prescribed margin (a truly
optimal path may not exist). We present an algorithm for the problem; it works
even in the extended setting with propositional quality operators, a setting
where (threshold) model-checking is known to be undecidable
Minimisation in Logical Form
Stone-type dualities provide a powerful mathematical framework for studying
properties of logical systems. They have recently been fruitfully explored in
understanding minimisation of various types of automata. In Bezhanishvili et
al. (2012), a dual equivalence between a category of coalgebras and a category
of algebras was used to explain minimisation. The algebraic semantics is dual
to a coalgebraic semantics in which logical equivalence coincides with trace
equivalence. It follows that maximal quotients of coalgebras correspond to
minimal subobjects of algebras. Examples include partially observable
deterministic finite automata, linear weighted automata viewed as coalgebras
over finite-dimensional vector spaces, and belief automata, which are
coalgebras on compact Hausdorff spaces. In Bonchi et al. (2014), Brzozowski's
double-reversal minimisation algorithm for deterministic finite automata was
described categorically and its correctness explained via the duality between
reachability and observability. This work includes generalisations of
Brzozowski's algorithm to Moore and weighted automata over commutative
semirings.
In this paper we propose a general categorical framework within which such
minimisation algorithms can be understood. The goal is to provide a unifying
perspective based on duality. Our framework consists of a stack of three
interconnected adjunctions: a base dual adjunction that can be lifted to a dual
adjunction between coalgebras and algebras and also to a dual adjunction
between automata. The approach provides an abstract understanding of
reachability and observability. We illustrate the general framework on range of
concrete examples, including deterministic Kripke frames, weighted automata,
topological automata (belief automata), and alternating automata
The compositional construction of Markov processes II
In an earlier paper we introduced a notion of Markov automaton, together with
parallel operations which permit the compositional description of Markov
processes. We illustrated by showing how to describe a system of n dining
philosophers, and we observed that Perron-Frobenius theory yields a proof that
the probability of reaching deadlock tends to one as the number of steps goes
to infinity. In this paper we add sequential operations to the algebra (and the
necessary structure to support them). The extra operations permit the
description of hierarchical systems, and ones with evolving geometry
Model Checking One-clock Priced Timed Automata
We consider the model of priced (a.k.a. weighted) timed automata, an
extension of timed automata with cost information on both locations and
transitions, and we study various model-checking problems for that model based
on extensions of classical temporal logics with cost constraints on modalities.
We prove that, under the assumption that the model has only one clock,
model-checking this class of models against the logic WCTL, CTL with
cost-constrained modalities, is PSPACE-complete (while it has been shown
undecidable as soon as the model has three clocks). We also prove that
model-checking WMTL, LTL with cost-constrained modalities, is decidable only if
there is a single clock in the model and a single stopwatch cost variable
(i.e., whose slopes lie in {0,1}).Comment: 28 page
Verification for Timed Automata extended with Unbounded Discrete Data Structures
We study decidability of verification problems for timed automata extended
with unbounded discrete data structures. More detailed, we extend timed
automata with a pushdown stack. In this way, we obtain a strong model that may
for instance be used to model real-time programs with procedure calls. It is
long known that the reachability problem for this model is decidable. The goal
of this paper is to identify subclasses of timed pushdown automata for which
the language inclusion problem and related problems are decidable
Discounting in LTL
In recent years, there is growing need and interest in formalizing and
reasoning about the quality of software and hardware systems. As opposed to
traditional verification, where one handles the question of whether a system
satisfies, or not, a given specification, reasoning about quality addresses the
question of \emph{how well} the system satisfies the specification. One
direction in this effort is to refine the "eventually" operators of temporal
logic to {\em discounting operators}: the satisfaction value of a specification
is a value in , where the longer it takes to fulfill eventuality
requirements, the smaller the satisfaction value is.
In this paper we introduce an augmentation by discounting of Linear Temporal
Logic (LTL), and study it, as well as its combination with propositional
quality operators. We show that one can augment LTL with an arbitrary set of
discounting functions, while preserving the decidability of the model-checking
problem. Further augmenting the logic with unary propositional quality
operators preserves decidability, whereas adding an average-operator makes some
problems undecidable. We also discuss the complexity of the problem, as well as
various extensions
Best Response Games on Regular Graphs
With the growth of the internet it is becoming increasingly important to
understand how the behaviour of players is affected by the topology of the
network interconnecting them. Many models which involve networks of interacting
players have been proposed and best response games are amongst the simplest. In
best response games each vertex simultaneously updates to employ the best
response to their current surroundings. We concentrate upon trying to
understand the dynamics of best response games on regular graphs with many
strategies. When more than two strategies are present highly complex dynamics
can ensue. We focus upon trying to understand exactly how best response games
on regular graphs sample from the space of possible cellular automata. To
understand this issue we investigate convex divisions in high dimensional space
and we prove that almost every division of dimensional space into
convex regions includes a single point where all regions meet. We then find
connections between the convex geometry of best response games and the theory
of alternating circuits on graphs. Exploiting these unexpected connections
allows us to gain an interesting answer to our question of when cellular
automata are best response games
- …