65 research outputs found
Exact and Approximate Determinization of Discounted-Sum Automata
A discounted-sum automaton (NDA) is a nondeterministic finite automaton with
edge weights, valuing a run by the discounted sum of visited edge weights. More
precisely, the weight in the i-th position of the run is divided by
, where the discount factor is a fixed rational number
greater than 1. The value of a word is the minimal value of the automaton runs
on it. Discounted summation is a common and useful measuring scheme, especially
for infinite sequences, reflecting the assumption that earlier weights are more
important than later weights. Unfortunately, determinization of NDAs, which is
often essential in formal verification, is, in general, not possible. We
provide positive news, showing that every NDA with an integral discount factor
is determinizable. We complete the picture by proving that the integers
characterize exactly the discount factors that guarantee determinizability: for
every nonintegral rational discount factor , there is a
nondeterminizable -NDA. We also prove that the class of NDAs with
integral discount factors enjoys closure under the algebraic operations min,
max, addition, and subtraction, which is not the case for general NDAs nor for
deterministic NDAs. For general NDAs, we look into approximate determinization,
which is always possible as the influence of a word's suffix decays. We show
that the naive approach, of unfolding the automaton computations up to a
sufficient level, is doubly exponential in the discount factor. We provide an
alternative construction for approximate determinization, which is singly
exponential in the discount factor, in the precision, and in the number of
states. We also prove matching lower bounds, showing that the exponential
dependency on each of these three parameters cannot be avoided. All our results
hold equally for automata over finite words and for automata over infinite
words
Approximate Determinization of Quantitative Automata
Quantitative automata are nondeterministic finite automata with edge weights. They value a run by some function from the sequence of visited weights to the reals, and value a word by its minimal/maximal run. They generalize boolean automata, and have gained much attention in recent years. Unfortunately, important automaton classes, such as sum, discounted-sum, and limit-average automata, cannot be determinized. Yet, the quantitative setting provides the potential of approximate determinization. We define approximate determinization with respect to a distance function, and investigate this potential.
We show that sum automata cannot be determinized approximately with respect to any distance function. However, restricting to nonnegative weights allows for approximate determinization with respect to some distance functions.
Discounted-sum automata allow for approximate determinization, as the influence of a word\u27s suffix is decaying. However, the naive approach, of unfolding the automaton computations up to a sufficient level, is shown to be doubly exponential in the discount factor. We provide an alternative construction that is singly exponential in the discount factor, in the precision, and in the number of states. We prove matching lower bounds, showing exponential dependency on each of these three parameters.
Average and limit-average automata are shown to prohibit approximate determinization with respect to any distance function, and this is the case even for two weights, 0 and 1
Synthesis from Weighted Specifications with Partial Domains over Finite Words
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
Discounted-Sum Automata with Multiple Discount Factors
Discounting the influence of future events is a key paradigm in economics and it is widely used in computer-science models, such as games, Markov decision processes (MDPs), reinforcement learning, and automata. While a single game or MDP may allow for several different discount factors, discounted-sum automata (NDAs) were only studied with respect to a single discount factor. For every integer ? ? ??{0,1}, as opposed to every ? ? ???, the class of NDAs with discount factor ? (?-NDAs) has good computational properties: it is closed under determinization and under the algebraic operations min, max, addition, and subtraction, and there are algorithms for its basic decision problems, such as automata equivalence and containment.
We define and analyze discounted-sum automata in which each transition can have a different integral discount factor (integral NMDAs). We show that integral NMDAs with an arbitrary choice of discount factors are not closed under determinization and under algebraic operations. We then define and analyze a restricted class of integral NMDAs, which we call tidy NMDAs, in which the choice of discount factors depends on the prefix of the word read so far. Tidy NMDAs are as expressive as deterministic integral NMDAs with an arbitrary choice of discount factors, and some of their special cases are NMDAs in which the discount factor depends on the action (alphabet letter) or on the elapsed time.
We show that for every function ? that defines the choice of discount factors, the class of ?-NMDAs enjoys all of the above good properties of integral NDAs, as well as the same complexities of the required decision problems. To this end, we also improve the previously known complexities of the decision problems of integral NDAs, and present tight bounds on the size blow-up involved in algebraic operations on them.
All our results hold equally for automata on finite words and for automata on infinite words
Discounted-Sum Automata with Multiple Discount Factors
Discounting the influence of future events is a key paradigm in economics and
it is widely used in computer-science models, such as games, Markov decision
processes (MDPs), reinforcement learning, and automata. While a single game or
MDP may allow for several different discount factors, discounted-sum automata
(NDAs) were only studied with respect to a single discount factor. For every
integer , as opposed to every , the class of NDAs with discount factor
(-NDAs) has good computational properties: it is closed
under determinization and under the algebraic operations min, max, addition,
and subtraction, and there are algorithms for its basic decision problems, such
as automata equivalence and containment.
We define and analyze discounted-sum automata in which each transition can
have a different integral discount factor (integral NMDAs). We show that
integral NMDAs with an arbitrary choice of discount factors are not closed
under determinization and under algebraic operations and that their containment
problem is undecidable. We then define and analyze a restricted class of
integral NMDAs, which we call tidy NMDAs, in which the choice of discount
factors depends on the prefix of the word read so far. Some of their special
cases are NMDAs that correlate discount factors to actions (alphabet letters)
or to the elapsed time. We show that for every function that defines
the choice of discount factors, the class of -NMDAs enjoys all of the
above good properties of integral NDAs, as well as the same complexity of the
required decision problems. Tidy NMDAs are also as expressive as deterministic
integral NMDAs with an arbitrary choice of discount factors.
All of our results hold for both automata on finite words and automata on
infinite words.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2301.0408
Comparator automata in quantitative verification
The notion of comparison between system runs is fundamental in formal
verification. This concept is implicitly present in the verification of
qualitative systems, and is more pronounced in the verification of quantitative
systems. In this work, we identify a novel mode of comparison in quantitative
systems: the online comparison of the aggregate values of two sequences of
quantitative weights. This notion is embodied by {\em comparator automata}
({\em comparators}, in short), a new class of automata that read two infinite
sequences of weights synchronously and relate their aggregate values.
We show that {aggregate functions} that can be represented with B\"uchi
automaton result in comparators that are finite-state and accept by the B\"uchi
condition as well. Such {\em -regular comparators} further lead to
generic algorithms for a number of well-studied problems, including the
quantitative inclusion and winning strategies in quantitative graph games with
incomplete information, as well as related non-decision problems, such as
obtaining a finite representation of all counterexamples in the quantitative
inclusion problem.
We study comparators for two aggregate functions: discounted-sum and
limit-average. We prove that the discounted-sum comparator is -regular
iff the discount-factor is an integer. Not every aggregate function, however,
has an -regular comparator. Specifically, we show that the language of
sequence-pairs for which limit-average aggregates exist is neither
-regular nor -context-free. Given this result, we introduce the
notion of {\em prefix-average} as a relaxation of limit-average aggregation,
and show that it admits -context-free comparators
Non-Zero Sum Games for Reactive Synthesis
In this invited contribution, we summarize new solution concepts useful for
the synthesis of reactive systems that we have introduced in several recent
publications. These solution concepts are developed in the context of non-zero
sum games played on graphs. They are part of the contributions obtained in the
inVEST project funded by the European Research Council.Comment: LATA'16 invited pape
On the Comparison of Discounted-Sum Automata with Multiple Discount Factors
We look into the problems of comparing nondeterministic discounted-sum
automata on finite and infinite words. That is, the problems of checking for
automata and whether or not it holds that for all words ,
, or .
These problems are known to be decidable when both automata have the same
single integral discount factor, while decidability is open in all other
settings: when the single discount factor is a non-integral rational; when each
automaton can have multiple discount factors; and even when each has a single
integral discount factor, but the two are different.
We show that it is undecidable to compare discounted-sum automata with
multiple discount factors, even if all are integrals, while it is decidable to
compare them if each has a single, possibly different, integral discount
factor. To this end, we also provide algorithms to check for given
nondeterministic automaton and deterministic automaton , each with a
single, possibly different, rational discount factor, whether or not , , or for all words .Comment: This is the full version of a chapter with the same title that
appears in the FoSSaCS 2023 conference proceeding
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