Parametric trace expressions for runtime verification of Java-like programs

Parametric trace expressions are a formalism expressly designed for parametric runtime verification (RV) which has been introduced and successfully employed in the context of runtime monitoring of multiagent systems. Trace expressions are built on the general notion of event type, which allows them to be adopted in different contexts. In this paper we show how trace expressions can be used for conveniently specifying the expected behavior of a Java-like program to be monitored at runtime. Furthermore, we investigate the basic properties of the primitive operators on which trace expressions are coinductively defined in terms of a labeled transition system; this provides a basis for formal reasoning about equivalence of trace expressions and for adopting useful optimization techniques to speed up runtime verification

Towards Runtime Monitoring of Node.js and Its Application to the Internet of Things

In the last years Node.js has emerged as a framework particularly suitable for implementing lightweight IoT applications, thanks to its underlying asynchronous event-driven, non blocking I/O model. However, verifying the correctness of programs with asynchronous nested callbacks is quite difficult, and, hence, runtime monitoring can be a valuable support to tackle such a complex task. Runtime monitoring is a useful software verification technique that complements static analysis and testing, but has not been yet fully explored in the context of Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Trace expressions have been successfully employed for runtime monitoring in widespread multiagent system platforms. Recently, their expressive power has been extended to allow parametric specifications on data that can be captured and monitored only at runtime. Furthermore, they can be language and system agnostic, through the notion of event domain and type. This paper investigates the use of parametric trace expressions as a first step towards runtime monitoring of programs developed in Node.js and Node-RED, a flow-based IoT programming tool built on top of Node.js. Runtime verification of such systems is a task that mostly seems to have been overlooked so far in the literature. A prototype implementing the proposed system for Node.js, in order to dynamically check with trace expressions the correct usage of API functions, is presented. The tool exploits the dynamic analysis framework Jalangi for monitoring Node.js programs and allows detection of errors that would be difficult to catch with other techniques. Furthermore, it offers a simple REST interface which can be exploited for runtime verification of Node-RED components, and, more generally, IoT devices

Towards formal models and languages for verifiable Multi-Robot Systems

Incorrect operations of a Multi-Robot System (MRS) may not only lead to unsatisfactory results, but can also cause economic losses and threats to safety. These threats may not always be apparent, since they may arise as unforeseen consequences of the interactions between elements of the system. This call for tools and techniques that can help in providing guarantees about MRSs behaviour. We think that, whenever possible, these guarantees should be backed up by formal proofs to complement traditional approaches based on testing and simulation. We believe that tailored linguistic support to specify MRSs is a major step towards this goal. In particular, reducing the gap between typical features of an MRS and the level of abstraction of the linguistic primitives would simplify both the specification of these systems and the verification of their properties. In this work, we review different agent-oriented languages and their features; we then consider a selection of case studies of interest and implement them useing the surveyed languages. We also evaluate and compare effectiveness of the proposed solution, considering, in particular, easiness of expressing non-trivial behaviour.Comment: Changed formattin

RV4JaCa - Runtime Verification for Multi-Agent Systems

This paper presents a Runtime Verification (RV) approach for Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) using the JaCaMo framework. Our objective is to bring a layer of security to the MAS. This layer is capable of controlling events during the execution of the system without needing a specific implementation in the behaviour of each agent to recognise the events. MAS have been used in the context of hybrid intelligence. This use requires communication between software agents and human beings. In some cases, communication takes place via natural language dialogues. However, this kind of communication brings us to a concern related to controlling the flow of dialogue so that agents can prevent any change in the topic of discussion that could impair their reasoning. We demonstrate the implementation of a monitor that aims to control this dialogue flow in a MAS that communicates with the user through natural language to aid decision-making in hospital bed allocation

RV4JaCa—Towards Runtime Verification of Multi-Agent Systems and Robotic Applications

This paper presents a Runtime Verification (RV) approach for Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) using the JaCaMo framework. Our objective is to bring a layer of security to the MAS. This is achieved keeping in mind possible safety-critical uses of the MAS, such as robotic applications. This layer is capable of controlling events during the execution of the system without needing a specific implementation in the behaviour of each agent to recognise the events. In this paper, we mainly focus on MAS when used in the context of hybrid intelligence. This use requires communication between software agents and human beings. In some cases, communication takes place via natural language dialogues. However, this kind of communication brings us to a concern related to controlling the flow of dialogue so that agents can prevent any change in the topic of discussion that could impair their reasoning. The latter may be a problem and undermine the development of the software agents. In this paper, we tackle this problem by proposing and demonstrating the implementation of a framework that aims to control the dialogue flow in a MAS; especially when the MAS communicates with the user through natural language to aid decision-making in a hospital bed allocation scenario

Failure Handling in BDI Plans via Runtime Enforcement

This project CONVINCE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme G.A. n. 101070227. This publication is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission (the granting authority). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for themPublisher PD

Behavioral types in programming languages

A recent trend in programming language research is to use behav- ioral type theory to ensure various correctness properties of large- scale, communication-intensive systems. Behavioral types encompass concepts such as interfaces, communication protocols, contracts, and choreography. The successful application of behavioral types requires a solid understanding of several practical aspects, from their represen- tation in a concrete programming language, to their integration with other programming constructs such as methods and functions, to de- sign and monitoring methodologies that take behaviors into account. This survey provides an overview of the state of the art of these aspects, which we summarize as the pragmatics of behavioral types

Verifying RoboCup Teams

Pocreeding of: 5th International Workshop on Model Checking and Artificial Intelligence. MOCHART-2008, Patras, Greece, july, 21st, 2008.Verification of multi-agent systems is a challenging task due to their dynamic nature, and the complex interactions between agents. An example of such a system is the RoboCup Soccer Simulator, where two teams of eleven independent agents play a game of football against each other. In the present article we attempt to verify a number of properties of RoboCup football teams, using a methodology involving testing. To accomplish such testing in an efficient manner we use the McErlang model checker, as it affords precise control of the scheduling of the agents, and provides convenient access to the internal states and actions of the agents of the football teams.This work has been partially supported by the FP7-ICT-2007-1 project ProTest (215868), a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, and the Spanish national projects TRA2007-67374-C02-02, TIN2006-15660-C02- 02 (DESAFIOS) and S-0505/TIC/0407 (PROMESAS).Publicad