168 research outputs found
Lazy Abstraction-Based Controller Synthesis
We present lazy abstraction-based controller synthesis (ABCS) for
continuous-time nonlinear dynamical systems against reach-avoid and safety
specifications. State-of-the-art multi-layered ABCS pre-computes multiple
finite-state abstractions of varying granularity and applies reactive synthesis
to the coarsest abstraction whenever feasible, but adaptively considers finer
abstractions when necessary. Lazy ABCS improves this technique by constructing
abstractions on demand. Our insight is that the abstract transition relation
only needs to be locally computed for a small set of frontier states at the
precision currently required by the synthesis algorithm. We show that lazy ABCS
can significantly outperform previous multi-layered ABCS algorithms: on
standard benchmarks, lazy ABCS is more than 4 times faster
An Inductive Synthesis Framework for Verifiable Reinforcement Learning
Despite the tremendous advances that have been made in the last decade on
developing useful machine-learning applications, their wider adoption has been
hindered by the lack of strong assurance guarantees that can be made about
their behavior. In this paper, we consider how formal verification techniques
developed for traditional software systems can be repurposed for verification
of reinforcement learning-enabled ones, a particularly important class of
machine learning systems. Rather than enforcing safety by examining and
altering the structure of a complex neural network implementation, our
technique uses blackbox methods to synthesizes deterministic programs, simpler,
more interpretable, approximations of the network that can nonetheless
guarantee desired safety properties are preserved, even when the network is
deployed in unanticipated or previously unobserved environments. Our
methodology frames the problem of neural network verification in terms of a
counterexample and syntax-guided inductive synthesis procedure over these
programs. The synthesis procedure searches for both a deterministic program and
an inductive invariant over an infinite state transition system that represents
a specification of an application's control logic. Additional specifications
defining environment-based constraints can also be provided to further refine
the search space. Synthesized programs deployed in conjunction with a neural
network implementation dynamically enforce safety conditions by monitoring and
preventing potentially unsafe actions proposed by neural policies. Experimental
results over a wide range of cyber-physical applications demonstrate that
software-inspired formal verification techniques can be used to realize
trustworthy reinforcement learning systems with low overhead.Comment: Published on PLDI 201
Recommended from our members
Oracle-Guided Design and Analysis of Learning-Based Cyber-Physical Systems
We are in world where autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars, surgical robots, robotic manipulators are becoming a reality. Such systems are considered \textit{safety-critical} since they interact with humans on a regular basis. Hence, before such systems can be integrated into our day to day life, we need to guarantee their safety. Recent success in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) has led to an increase in their use in real world robotic systems. For example, complex perception modules in self-driving cars and deep reinforcement learning controllers in robotic manipulators. Although powerful, they introduce an additional level of complexity when it comes to the formal analysis of autonomous systems. In this thesis, such systems are designated as Learning-Based Cyber-Physical Systems~(LB-CPS). In this thesis, we take inspiration from the Oracle-Guided Inductive Synthesis~(OGIS) paradigm to develop frameworks which can aid in achieving formal guarantees in different stages of an autonomous system design and analysis pipeline. Furthermore, we show that to guarantee the safety of LB-CPS, the design (synthesis) and analysis (verification) must consider feedback from the other. We consider five important parts of the design and analysis process and show a strong coupling among them, namely (i) Robust Control Synthesis from High Level Safety Specifications; (ii) Diagnosis and Repair of Safety Requirements for Control Synthesis; (iii) Counter-example Guided Data Augmentation for training high-accuracy ML models; (iv) Simulation-Guided Falsification and Verification against Adversarial Environments; and (v) Bridging Model and Real-World Gap. Finally, we introduce a software toolkit \verifai{} for the design and analysis of AI based systems, which was developed to provide a common formal platform to implement design and analysis frameworks for LB-CPS
Inductive Certificate Synthesis for Control Design
The focus of this thesis is developing a framework for designing correct-by-construction controllers using control certificates. We use nonlinear dynamical systems to model the physical environment (plants). The goal is to synthesize controllers for these plants while guaranteeing formal correctness w.r.t. given specifications. We consider different fundamental specifications including stability, safety, and reach-while-stay. Stability specification states that the execution traces of the system remain close to an equilibrium state and approach it asymptotically. Safety specification requires the execution traces to stay in a safe region. Finally, for reach-while-stay specification, safety is needed until a target set is reached.The design task consists of two phases. In the first phase, the control design problem is reduced to the question of finding a control certificate. More precisely, the goal of the first phase is to define a class of control certificates with a specific structure. This definition should guarantee the following: ``Having a control certificate, one can systematically design a controller and prove its correctness at the same time."The goal in the second phase is to find such a control certificate. We define a potential control certificate space (hypothesis space) using parameterized functions. Next, we provide an inductive search framework to find proper parameters, which yield a control certificate. Finally, we evaluate our framework. We show that discovering control certificates is practically feasible and demonstrate the effectiveness of the automatically designed controllers through simulations and real physical systems experiments
- …