3,210 research outputs found
A multi-paradigm language for reactive synthesis
This paper proposes a language for describing reactive synthesis problems
that integrates imperative and declarative elements. The semantics is defined
in terms of two-player turn-based infinite games with full information.
Currently, synthesis tools accept linear temporal logic (LTL) as input, but
this description is less structured and does not facilitate the expression of
sequential constraints. This motivates the use of a structured programming
language to specify synthesis problems. Transition systems and guarded commands
serve as imperative constructs, expressed in a syntax based on that of the
modeling language Promela. The syntax allows defining which player controls
data and control flow, and separating a program into assumptions and
guarantees. These notions are necessary for input to game solvers. The
integration of imperative and declarative paradigms allows using the paradigm
that is most appropriate for expressing each requirement. The declarative part
is expressed in the LTL fragment of generalized reactivity(1), which admits
efficient synthesis algorithms, extended with past LTL. The implementation
translates Promela to input for the Slugs synthesizer and is written in Python.
The AMBA AHB bus case study is revisited and synthesized efficiently,
identifying the need to reorder binary decision diagrams during strategy
construction, in order to prevent the exponential blowup observed in previous
work.Comment: In Proceedings SYNT 2015, arXiv:1602.0078
Alternation in Quantum Programming: From Superposition of Data to Superposition of Programs
We extract a novel quantum programming paradigm - superposition of programs -
from the design idea of a popular class of quantum algorithms, namely quantum
walk-based algorithms. The generality of this paradigm is guaranteed by the
universality of quantum walks as a computational model. A new quantum
programming language QGCL is then proposed to support the paradigm of
superposition of programs. This language can be seen as a quantum extension of
Dijkstra's GCL (Guarded Command Language). Surprisingly, alternation in GCL
splits into two different notions in the quantum setting: classical alternation
(of quantum programs) and quantum alternation, with the latter being introduced
in QGCL for the first time. Quantum alternation is the key program construct
for realizing the paradigm of superposition of programs.
The denotational semantics of QGCL are defined by introducing a new
mathematical tool called the guarded composition of operator-valued functions.
Then the weakest precondition semantics of QGCL can straightforwardly derived.
Another very useful program construct in realizing the quantum programming
paradigm of superposition of programs, called quantum choice, can be easily
defined in terms of quantum alternation. The relation between quantum choices
and probabilistic choices is clarified through defining the notion of local
variables. We derive a family of algebraic laws for QGCL programs that can be
used in program verification, transformations and compilation. The expressive
power of QGCL is illustrated by several examples where various variants and
generalizations of quantum walks are conveniently expressed using quantum
alternation and quantum choice. We believe that quantum programming with
quantum alternation and choice will play an important role in further
exploiting the power of quantum computing.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1209.437
Synthesis from multi-paradigm specifications
This work proposes a language for describing reactive synthesis problems that integrates imperative and declarative elements. The semantics is defined in terms of two-player turn-based infinite games with full information. Currently, synthesis tools accept linear temporal logic (LTL) as input, but this description is less structured and does not facilitate the expression of sequential constraints. This motivates the use of a structured programming language to specify synthesis problems. Transition systems and guarded commands serve as imperative constructs, expressed in a syntax based on that of the modeling language Promela. The syntax allows defining which player controls data and control flow, and separating a program into assumptions and guarantees. These notions are necessary for input to game solvers. The integration of imperative and declarative paradigms allows using the paradigm that is most appropriate for expressing each requirement. The declarative part is expressed in the LTL fragment of generalized reactivity(1), which admits efficient synthesis algorithms. The implementation translates Promela to input for the Slugs synthesizer and is written in Python
EOS: A project to investigate the design and construction of real-time distributed embedded operating systems
The EOS project is investigating the design and construction of a family of real-time distributed embedded operating systems for reliable, distributed aerospace applications. Using the real-time programming techniques developed in co-operation with NASA in earlier research, the project staff is building a kernel for a multiple processor networked system. The first six months of the grant included a study of scheduling in an object-oriented system, the design philosophy of the kernel, and the architectural overview of the operating system. In this report, the operating system and kernel concepts are described. An environment for the experiments has been built and several of the key concepts of the system have been prototyped. The kernel and operating system is intended to support future experimental studies in multiprocessing, load-balancing, routing, software fault-tolerance, distributed data base design, and real-time processing
Fifty years of Hoare's Logic
We present a history of Hoare's logic.Comment: 79 pages. To appear in Formal Aspects of Computin
Communicating Processes with Data for Supervisory Coordination
We employ supervisory controllers to safely coordinate high-level
discrete(-event) behavior of distributed components of complex systems.
Supervisory controllers observe discrete-event system behavior, make a decision
on allowed activities, and communicate the control signals to the involved
parties. Models of the supervisory controllers can be automatically synthesized
based on formal models of the system components and a formalization of the safe
coordination (control) requirements. Based on the obtained models, code
generation can be used to implement the supervisory controllers in software, on
a PLC, or an embedded (micro)processor. In this article, we develop a process
theory with data that supports a model-based systems engineering framework for
supervisory coordination. We employ communication to distinguish between the
different flows of information, i.e., observation and supervision, whereas we
employ data to specify the coordination requirements more compactly, and to
increase the expressivity of the framework. To illustrate the framework, we
remodel an industrial case study involving coordination of maintenance
procedures of a printing process of a high-tech Oce printer.Comment: In Proceedings FOCLASA 2012, arXiv:1208.432
Safe-guarded multi-agent control for mechatronic systems: implementation framework and design patterns
This thesis addresses two issues: (i) developing an implementation framework for Multi-Agent Control Systems (MACS); and (ii) developing a pattern-based safe-guarded MACS design method.\ud
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The Multi-Agent Controller Implementation Framework (MACIF), developed by Van Breemen (2001), is selected as the starting point because of its capability to produce MACS for solving complex control problems with two useful features:\ud
• MACS is hierarchically structured in terms of a coordinated group of elementary and/or composite controller-agents;\ud
• MACS has an open architecture such that controller-agents can be added, modified or removed without redesigning and/or reprogramming the remaining part of the MACS
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