Sensor placement for fault location identification in water networks: A minimum test cover approach

This paper focuses on the optimal sensor placement problem for the identification of pipe failure locations in large-scale urban water systems. The problem involves selecting the minimum number of sensors such that every pipe failure can be uniquely localized. This problem can be viewed as a minimum test cover (MTC) problem, which is NP-hard. We consider two approaches to obtain approximate solutions to this problem. In the first approach, we transform the MTC problem to a minimum set cover (MSC) problem and use the greedy algorithm that exploits the submodularity property of the MSC problem to compute the solution to the MTC problem. In the second approach, we develop a new \textit{augmented greedy} algorithm for solving the MTC problem. This approach does not require the transformation of the MTC to MSC. Our augmented greedy algorithm provides in a significant computational improvement while guaranteeing the same approximation ratio as the first approach. We propose several metrics to evaluate the performance of the sensor placement designs. Finally, we present detailed computational experiments for a number of real water distribution networks

Do We Really Sample Right In Model-Based Diagnosis?

Statistical samples, in order to be representative, have to be drawn from a population in a random and unbiased way. Nevertheless, it is common practice in the field of model-based diagnosis to make estimations from (biased) best-first samples. One example is the computation of a few most probable possible fault explanations for a defective system and the use of these to assess which aspect of the system, if measured, would bring the highest information gain. In this work, we scrutinize whether these statistically not well-founded conventions, that both diagnosis researchers and practitioners have adhered to for decades, are indeed reasonable. To this end, we empirically analyze various sampling methods that generate fault explanations. We study the representativeness of the produced samples in terms of their estimations about fault explanations and how well they guide diagnostic decisions, and we investigate the impact of sample size, the optimal trade-off between sampling efficiency and effectivity, and how approximate sampling techniques compare to exact ones

Diagnostic distribué de systèmes respectant la confidentialité

Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à diagnostiquer des systèmes intrinsèquement distribués (comme les systèmes pairs-à-pairs) où chaque pair n'a accès qu'à une sous partie de la description d'un système global. De plus, en raison d'une politique d'accès trop restrictive, il sera pourra qu'aucun pair ne puisse expliquer le comportement du système global. Dans ce contexte, le challenge du diagnostic distribué est le suivant: expliquer le comportement global d'un système distribué par un ensemble de pairs ayant chacun une vision limitée, tout comme l'aurait fait un unique pair diagnostiqueur ayant, lui, une vision globale du système.D'un point de vue théorique, nous montrons que tout nouveau système, logiquement équivalent au système pair-à-pairs initialement observé, garantit que tout diagnostic local d'un pair pourra être prolongé par un diagnostic global (dans ce cas, le nouveau système est dit correct pour le diagnostic distribué).Nous montrons aussi que si ce nouveau système est structuré (c-à-d: il contient un arbre couvrant pour lequel tous les pairs contenant une même variable forme un graphe connecté) alors il garantit que tout diagnostic global pourra être retrouvé à travers un ensemble de diagnostics locaux des pairs (dans ce cas le nouveau système est dit complet pour le diagnostic distribué).Dans un souci de représentation succincte et afin de respecter la politique de confidentialité du vocabulaire de chacun des pairs, nous présentons un nouvel algorithme Token Elimination (TE), qui décompose le système de pairs initial vers un système structuré.Nous montrons expérimentalement que TE produit des décompositions de meilleurs qualité (c-à-d: de plus petites largeurs arborescentes) que les méthodes envisagées dans un contexte distribué. À partir du système structuré construit par TE, nous transformons chaque description locale en une Forme Normale Disjonctive (FND) globalement cohérente.Nous montrons que ce dernier système garantit effectivement un diagnostic distribué correct et complet. En plus, nous exhibons un algorithme capable de vérifier efficacement que tout diagnostic local fait partie d'un diagnostic minimal global, faisant du système structuré de FNDs un système compilé pour le diagnostic distribué.In this thesis, we focus on diagnosing inherently distributed systems such as peer-to-peer, where each peer has access to only a sub-part of the description of an overall system.In addition, due to a too restrictive access control policy, it can be possible that neither peer nor supervisor is able to explain the behaviour of the overall system.The goal of distributed diagnosis is to explain the behaviour of a distributed system by a set of peers (each having a limited local view) as a single diagnosis engine having a global view of the overall system.First, we show that any new system logically equivalent to the initially observed peer-to-peer setting ensures that all diagnosis of a peer may be extended to a global diagnosis (in this case the new system ensures correctness of the distributed diagnosis).Moreover, we prove that if the new system is structured (i.e.it contains a spanning tree for which all peers containing the same variable form a connected graph) then it ensures that any global diagnosis can be found through a set of local diagnoses (in this case the new system ensures the completeness of the distributed diagnoses).For a succinct representation and in order to comply with the privacy policy of the vocabulary of each peer, we present a new algorithm Token Elimination (TE), which decomposes the original peer system to a structured one.We experimentally show that TE produces better quality decompositions (i.e. smaller tree widths) than proposed methods in a distributed context.From the structured system built by TE, we transform each local description into globally consistent DNF.We demonstrate that the latter system is correct and complete for the distributed diagnosis.Finally, we present an algorithm that can effectively check that any local diagnosis is part of a global minimal diagnosis, turning the structured system of DNFs into a compiled system for distributed diagnosis.PARIS11-SCD-Bib. électronique (914719901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Search-based Unit Test Generation for Evolving Software

Search-based software testing has been successfully applied to generate unit test cases for object-oriented software. Typically, in search-based test generation approaches, evolutionary search algorithms are guided by code coverage criteria such as branch coverage to generate tests for individual coverage objectives. Although it has been shown that this approach can be effective, there remain fundamental open questions. In particular, which criteria should test generation use in order to produce the best test suites? Which evolutionary algorithms are more effective at generating test cases with high coverage? How to scale up search-based unit test generation to software projects consisting of large numbers of components, evolving and changing frequently over time? As a result, the applicability of search-based test generation techniques in practice is still fundamentally limited. In order to answer these fundamental questions, we investigate the following improvements to search-based testing. First, we propose the simultaneous optimisation of several coverage criteria at the same time using an evolutionary algorithm, rather than optimising for individual criteria. We then perform an empirical evaluation of different evolutionary algorithms to understand the influence of each one on the test optimisation problem. We then extend a coverage-based test generation with a non-functional criterion to increase the likelihood of detecting faults as well as helping developers to identify the locations of the faults. Finally, we propose several strategies and tools to efficiently apply search-based test generation techniques in large and evolving software projects. Our results show that, overall, the optimisation of several coverage criteria is efficient, there is indeed an evolutionary algorithm that clearly works better for test generation problem than others, the extended coverage-based test generation is effective at revealing and localising faults, and our proposed strategies, specifically designed to test entire software projects in a continuous way, improve efficiency and lead to higher code coverage. Consequently, the techniques and toolset presented in this thesis - which provides support to all contributions here described - brings search-based software testing one step closer to practical usage, by equipping software engineers with the state of the art in automated test generation