Optimizing SMT Solving Strategies by Learning with an Evolutionary Process

This paper deals with program optimization, i.e., learning of more efficient programs. The programs we want to improve are Z3 solving strategies. Z3 is a SMT (SAT Modulo Theory) solver which is currently developed by Microsoft Research. We define strategy generators based on evolutionary processes. SMT solving strategies include various aspects that can affect the performance of a SMT solver dramatically. Each of these elements includes a huge amount of options which cannot be exploited without expert knowledge. We define a generic evolutionary algorithm based on genetic programming concepts. This strategy generation process aims at learning better strategies by successive improvements, using rules that can be combined in order to handle both structures and parameters of the strategies. We experiment 7 different strategies generators on 2 SMT logics (QF_LRA,QF_LIA). The results show that the learned strategies improve default strategies available in the solver

Multi-surrogate Assisted Efficient Global Optimization for Discrete Problems

Decades of progress in simulation-based surrogate-assisted optimization and unprecedented growth in computational power have enabled researchers and practitioners to optimize previously intractable complex engineering problems. This paper investigates the possible benefit of a concurrent utilization of multiple simulation-based surrogate models to solve complex discrete optimization problems. To fulfill this, the so-called Self-Adaptive Multi-surrogate Assisted Efficient Global Optimization algorithm (SAMA-DiEGO), which features a two-stage online model management strategy, is proposed and further benchmarked on fifteen binary-encoded combinatorial and fifteen ordinal problems against several state-of-the-art non-surrogate or single surrogate assisted optimization algorithms. Our findings indicate that SAMA-DiEGO can rapidly converge to better solutions on a majority of the test problems, which shows the feasibility and advantage of using multiple surrogate models in optimizing discrete problems

Setup Optimization in High-Mix Surface Mount PCB Assembly

Siirretty Doriast

ML + FV = ♡\heartsuit? A Survey on the Application of Machine Learning to Formal Verification

Formal Verification (FV) and Machine Learning (ML) can seem incompatible due to their opposite mathematical foundations and their use in real-life problems: FV mostly relies on discrete mathematics and aims at ensuring correctness; ML often relies on probabilistic models and consists of learning patterns from training data. In this paper, we postulate that they are complementary in practice, and explore how ML helps FV in its classical approaches: static analysis, model-checking, theorem-proving, and SAT solving. We draw a landscape of the current practice and catalog some of the most prominent uses of ML inside FV tools, thus offering a new perspective on FV techniques that can help researchers and practitioners to better locate the possible synergies. We discuss lessons learned from our work, point to possible improvements and offer visions for the future of the domain in the light of the science of software and systems modeling.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, 3 table