A Formal Methods Approach to Pattern Synthesis in Reaction Diffusion Systems

We propose a technique to detect and generate patterns in a network of locally interacting dynamical systems. Central to our approach is a novel spatial superposition logic, whose semantics is defined over the quad-tree of a partitioned image. We show that formulas in this logic can be efficiently learned from positive and negative examples of several types of patterns. We also demonstrate that pattern detection, which is implemented as a model checking algorithm, performs very well for test data sets different from the learning sets. We define a quantitative semantics for the logic and integrate the model checking algorithm with particle swarm optimization in a computational framework for synthesis of parameters leading to desired patterns in reaction-diffusion systems

Movement Analytics: Current Status, Application to Manufacturing, and Future Prospects from an AI Perspective

Data-driven decision making is becoming an integral part of manufacturing companies. Data is collected and commonly used to improve efficiency and produce high quality items for the customers. IoT-based and other forms of object tracking are an emerging tool for collecting movement data of objects/entities (e.g. human workers, moving vehicles, trolleys etc.) over space and time. Movement data can provide valuable insights like process bottlenecks, resource utilization, effective working time etc. that can be used for decision making and improving efficiency. Turning movement data into valuable information for industrial management and decision making requires analysis methods. We refer to this process as movement analytics. The purpose of this document is to review the current state of work for movement analytics both in manufacturing and more broadly. We survey relevant work from both a theoretical perspective and an application perspective. From the theoretical perspective, we put an emphasis on useful methods from two research areas: machine learning, and logic-based knowledge representation. We also review their combinations in view of movement analytics, and we discuss promising areas for future development and application. Furthermore, we touch on constraint optimization. From an application perspective, we review applications of these methods to movement analytics in a general sense and across various industries. We also describe currently available commercial off-the-shelf products for tracking in manufacturing, and we overview main concepts of digital twins and their applications

Matching disparate geospatial datasets and validating matches using spatial logic

In recent years, the emergence and development of crowd-sourced geospatial data has provided challenges and opportunities to national mapping agencies as well as commercial mapping organisations. Crowd-sourced data involves non-specialists in data collection, sharing and maintenance. Compared to authoritative geospatial data, which is collected by surveyors or other geodata professionals, crowd-sourced data is less accurate and less structured, but often provides richer user-based information and reflects real world changes more quickly at a much lower cost. In order to maximize the synergistic use of authoritative and crowd-sourced geospatial data, this research investigates the problem of how to establish and validate correspondences (matches) between spatial features from disparate geospatial datasets. To reason about and validate matches between spatial features, a series of new qualitative spatial logics was developed. Their soundness, completeness, decidability and complexity theorems were proved for models based on a metric space. A software tool `MatchMaps' was developed, which generates matches using location and lexical information, and verifies consistency of matches using reasoning in description logic and qualitative spatial logic. MatchMaps was evaluated by the author and experts from Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency of Great Britain. In experiments, it achieved high precision and recall, as well as reduced human effort. The methodology developed and implemented in MatchMaps has a wider application than matching authoritative and crowd-sourced data and could be applied wherever it is necessary to match two geospatial datasets of vector data

Matching disparate geospatial datasets and validating matches using spatial logic

In recent years, the emergence and development of crowd-sourced geospatial data has provided challenges and opportunities to national mapping agencies as well as commercial mapping organisations. Crowd-sourced data involves non-specialists in data collection, sharing and maintenance. Compared to authoritative geospatial data, which is collected by surveyors or other geodata professionals, crowd-sourced data is less accurate and less structured, but often provides richer user-based information and reflects real world changes more quickly at a much lower cost. In order to maximize the synergistic use of authoritative and crowd-sourced geospatial data, this research investigates the problem of how to establish and validate correspondences (matches) between spatial features from disparate geospatial datasets. To reason about and validate matches between spatial features, a series of new qualitative spatial logics was developed. Their soundness, completeness, decidability and complexity theorems were proved for models based on a metric space. A software tool `MatchMaps' was developed, which generates matches using location and lexical information, and verifies consistency of matches using reasoning in description logic and qualitative spatial logic. MatchMaps was evaluated by the author and experts from Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency of Great Britain. In experiments, it achieved high precision and recall, as well as reduced human effort. The methodology developed and implemented in MatchMaps has a wider application than matching authoritative and crowd-sourced data and could be applied wherever it is necessary to match two geospatial datasets of vector data

Spatio-temporal logics for verification and control of networked systems

Emergent behaviors in networks of locally interacting dynamical systems have been a topic of great interest in recent years. As the complexity of these systems increases, so does the range of emergent properties that they exhibit. Due to recent developments in areas such as synthetic biology and multi-agent robotics, there has been a growing necessity for a formal and automated framework for studying global behaviors in such networks. We propose a formal methods approach for describing, verifying, and synthesizing complex spatial and temporal network properties. Two novel logics are introduced in the first part of this dissertation: Tree Spatial Superposition Logic (TSSL) and Spatial Temporal Logic (SpaTeL). The former is a purely spatial logic capable of formally describing global spatial patterns. The latter is a temporal extension of TSSL and is ideal for expressing how patterns evolve over time. We demonstrate how machine learning techniques can be utilized to learn logical descriptors from labeled and unlabeled system outputs. Moreover, these logics are equipped with quantitative semantics and thus provide a metric for distance to satisfaction for randomly generated system trajectories. We illustrate how this metric is used in a statistical model checking framework for verification of networks of stochastic systems. The parameter synthesis problem is considered in the second part, where the goal is to determine static system parameters that lead to the emergence of desired global behaviors. We use quantitative semantics to formulate optimization procedures with the purpose of tuning system inputs. Particle swarm optimization is employed to efficiently solve these optimization problems, and the efficacy of this framework is demonstrated in two applications: biological cell networks and smart power grids. The focus of the third part is the control synthesis problem, where the objective is to find time-varying control strategies. We propose two approaches to solve this problem: an exact solution based on mixed integer linear programming, and an approximate solution based on gradient descent. These algorithms are not restricted to the logics introduced in this dissertation and can be applied to other existing logics in the literature. Finally, the capabilities of our framework are shown in the context of multi-agent robotics and robotic swarms

Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems

This open access two-volume set constitutes the proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems, TACAS 2021, which was held during March 27 – April 1, 2021, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2021. The conference was planned to take place in Luxembourg and changed to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The total of 41 full papers presented in the proceedings was carefully reviewed and selected from 141 submissions. The volume also contains 7 tool papers; 6 Tool Demo papers, 9 SV-Comp Competition Papers. The papers are organized in topical sections as follows: Part I: Game Theory; SMT Verification; Probabilities; Timed Systems; Neural Networks; Analysis of Network Communication. Part II: Verification Techniques (not SMT); Case Studies; Proof Generation/Validation; Tool Papers; Tool Demo Papers; SV-Comp Tool Competition Papers