Bounded Determinization of Timed Automata with Silent Transitions

Deterministic timed automata are strictly less expressive than their non-deterministic counterparts, which are again less expressive than those with silent transitions. As a consequence, timed automata are in general non-determinizable. This is unfortunate since deterministic automata play a major role in model-based testing, observability and implementability. However, by bounding the length of the traces in the automaton, effective determinization becomes possible. We propose a novel procedure for bounded determinization of timed automata. The procedure unfolds the automata to bounded trees, removes all silent transitions and determinizes via disjunction of guards. The proposed algorithms are optimized to the bounded setting and thus are more efficient and can handle a larger class of timed automata than the general algorithms. The approach is implemented in a prototype tool and evaluated on several examples. To our best knowledge, this is the first implementation of this type of procedure for timed automata.Comment: 25 page

From MTL to deterministic timed automata

In this paper we propose a novel technique for constructing timed automata from properties expressed in the logic MTL, under bounded-variability assumptions. We handle full MTL and in particular do not impose bounds on the future temporal connectives. Our construction is based on separation of the continuous time monitoring of the input sequence and discrete predictions regarding the future. The separation of the continuous from the discrete allows us to further determinize our automata. This leads, for the first time, to a construction from full MTL to deterministic timed automata

Test Derivation from Timed Automata

A real-time system is a discrete system whose state changes occur in real-numbered time [AH97]. For testing real-time systems, specification languages must be extended with constructs for expressing real-time constraints, the implementation relation must be generalized to consider the temporal dimension, and the data structures and algorithms used to generate tests must be revised to operate on a potentially infinite set of states

Contribution to the verification of timed automata (determinization, quantitative verification and reachability in networks of automata)

Cette thèse porte sur la vérification des automates temporisés, un modèle bien établi pour les systèmes temps-réels. La thèse est constituée de trois parties. La première est dédiée à la déterminisation des automates temporisés, problème qui n'a pas de solution en général. Nous proposons une méthode approchée (sur-approximation, sous-approximation, mélange des deux) fondée sur la construction d'un jeu de sûreté. Cette méthode améliore les approches existantes en combinant leurs avantages respectifs. Nous appliquons ensuite cette méthode de déterminisation à la génération automatique de tests de conformité. Dans la seconde partie, nous prenons en compte des aspects quantitatifs des systèmes temps-réel grâce à une notion de fréquence des états acceptants dans une exécution d'un automate temporisé. Plus précisément, la fréquence d'une exécution est la proportion de temps passée dans les états acceptants. Nous intéressons alors à l'ensemble des fréquences des exécutions d'un automate temporisé pour étudier, par exemple, le vide de langages seuils. Nous montrons ainsi que les bornes de l'ensemble des fréquences sont calculables pour deux classes d'automates temporisés. D'une part, les bornes peuvent être calculées en espace logarithmique par une procédure non-déterministe dans les automates temporisés à une horloge. D'autre part, elles peuvent être calculées en espace polynomial dans les automates temporisés à plusieurs horloges ne contenant pas de cycles forçant la convergence d'horloges. Finalement, nous étudions le problème de l'accessibilité des états acceptants dans des réseaux d'automates temporisés qui communiquent via des files FIFO. Nous considérons tout d'abord des automates temporisés à temps discret, et caractérisons les topologies de réseaux pour lesquelles l'accessibilité est décidable. Cette caractérisation est ensuite étendue aux automates temporisés à temps continu.This thesis is about verification of timed automata, a well-established model for real time systems. The document is structured in three parts. The first part is dedicated to the determinization of timed automata, a problem which has no solution in general. We propose an approximate (over-approximation/under-approximation/mix) method based on the construction of a safety game. This method improves both existing approaches by combining their respective advantages. Then, we apply this determinization approach to the generation of conformance tests. In the second part, we take into account quantitative aspects of real time systems thanks to a notion of frequency of accepting states along executions of timed automata. More precisely, the frequency of a run is the proportion of time elapsed in accepting states. Then, we study the set of frequencies of runs of a timed automaton in order to decide, for example, the emptiness of threshold languages. We thus prove that the bounds of the set of frequencies are computable for two classes of timed automata. On the one hand, we prove that bounds are computable in logarithmic space by a non-deterministic procedure in one-clock timed automata. On the other hand, they can be computed in polynomial space in timed automata with several clocks, but having no cycle that forces the convergence between clocks. Finally, we study the reachability problem in networks of timed automata communicating through FIFO channels. We first consider dicrete timed automata, and characterize topologies of networks for which reachability is decidable. Then, this characterization is extended to dense-time automata.RENNES1-Bibl. électronique (352382106) / SudocSudocFranceF

Utilization of timed automata as a verification tool for real-time security protocols

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Computer Engineering, Izmir, 2010Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 85-92)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxi, 92 leavesTimed Automata is an extension to the automata-theoretic approach to the modeling of real time systems that introduces time into the classical automata. Since it has been first proposed by Alur and Dill in the early nineties, it has become an important research area and been widely studied in both the context of formal languages and modeling and verification of real time systems. Timed automata use dense time modeling, allowing efficient model checking of time-sensitive systems whose correct functioning depend on the timing properties. One of these application areas is the verification of security protocols. This thesis aims to study the timed automata model and utilize it as a verification tool for security protocols. As a case study, the Neuman-Stubblebine Repeated Authentication Protocol is modeled and verified employing the time-sensitive properties in the model. The flaws of the protocol are analyzed and it is commented on the benefits and challenges of the model

LNCS

Imprecision in timing can sometimes be beneficial: Metric interval temporal logic (MITL), disabling the expression of punctuality constraints, was shown to translate to timed automata, yielding an elementary decision procedure. We show how this principle extends to other forms of dense-time specification using regular expressions. By providing a clean, automaton-based formal framework for non-punctual languages, we are able to recover and extend several results in timed systems. Metric interval regular expressions (MIRE) are introduced, providing regular expressions with non-singular duration constraints. We obtain that MIRE are expressively complete relative to a class of one-clock timed automata, which can be determinized using additional clocks. Metric interval dynamic logic (MIDL) is then defined using MIRE as temporal modalities. We show that MIDL generalizes known extensions of MITL, while translating to timed automata at comparable cost