1,284 research outputs found
Multi-Head Finite Automata: Characterizations, Concepts and Open Problems
Multi-head finite automata were introduced in (Rabin, 1964) and (Rosenberg,
1966). Since that time, a vast literature on computational and descriptional
complexity issues on multi-head finite automata documenting the importance of
these devices has been developed. Although multi-head finite automata are a
simple concept, their computational behavior can be already very complex and
leads to undecidable or even non-semi-decidable problems on these devices such
as, for example, emptiness, finiteness, universality, equivalence, etc. These
strong negative results trigger the study of subclasses and alternative
characterizations of multi-head finite automata for a better understanding of
the nature of non-recursive trade-offs and, thus, the borderline between
decidable and undecidable problems. In the present paper, we tour a fragment of
this literature
Bounded Languages Meet Cellular Automata with Sparse Communication
Cellular automata are one-dimensional arrays of interconnected interacting
finite automata. We investigate one of the weakest classes, the real-time
one-way cellular automata, and impose an additional restriction on their
inter-cell communication by bounding the number of allowed uses of the links
between cells. Moreover, we consider the devices as acceptors for bounded
languages in order to explore the borderline at which non-trivial decidability
problems of cellular automata classes become decidable. It is shown that even
devices with drastically reduced communication, that is, each two neighboring
cells may communicate only constantly often, accept bounded languages that are
not semilinear. If the number of communications is at least logarithmic in the
length of the input, several problems are undecidable. The same result is
obtained for classes where the total number of communications during a
computation is linearly bounded
Reachability of Communicating Timed Processes
We study the reachability problem for communicating timed processes, both in
discrete and dense time. Our model comprises automata with local timing
constraints communicating over unbounded FIFO channels. Each automaton can only
access its set of local clocks; all clocks evolve at the same rate. Our main
contribution is a complete characterization of decidable and undecidable
communication topologies, for both discrete and dense time. We also obtain
complexity results, by showing that communicating timed processes are at least
as hard as Petri nets; in the discrete time, we also show equivalence with
Petri nets. Our results follow from mutual topology-preserving reductions
between timed automata and (untimed) counter automata.Comment: Extended versio
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Combining centralised and distributed testing
Many systems interact with their environment at distributed interfaces (ports) and sometimes it is not possible to place synchronised local testers at the ports of the system under test (SUT). There are then two main approaches to testing: having independent local testers or a single centralised tester that interacts asynchronously with the SUT. The power of using independent testers has been captured using implementation relation \dioco. In this paper we define implementation relation \diococ for the centralised approach and prove that \dioco and \diococ are incomparable. This shows that the frameworks detect different types of faults and so we devise a hybrid framework and define an implementation relation \diocos for this. We prove that the hybrid framework is more powerful than the distributed and centralised approaches. We then prove that the Oracle problem is NP-complete for \diococ and \diocos but can be solved in polynomial time if we place an upper bound on the number of ports. Finally, we consider the problem of deciding whether there is a test case that is guaranteed to force a finite state model into a particular state or to distinguish two states, proving that both problems are undecidable for the centralised and hybrid frameworks
Equivalence-Checking on Infinite-State Systems: Techniques and Results
The paper presents a selection of recently developed and/or used techniques
for equivalence-checking on infinite-state systems, and an up-to-date overview
of existing results (as of September 2004)
Lossy Channel Games under Incomplete Information
In this paper we investigate lossy channel games under incomplete
information, where two players operate on a finite set of unbounded FIFO
channels and one player, representing a system component under consideration
operates under incomplete information, while the other player, representing the
component's environment is allowed to lose messages from the channels. We argue
that these games are a suitable model for synthesis of communication protocols
where processes communicate over unreliable channels. We show that in the case
of finite message alphabets, games with safety and reachability winning
conditions are decidable and finite-state observation-based strategies for the
component can be effectively computed. Undecidability for (weak) parity
objectives follows from the undecidability of (weak) parity perfect information
games where only one player can lose messages.Comment: In Proceedings SR 2013, arXiv:1303.007
On the Complexity of the Equivalence Problem for Probabilistic Automata
Checking two probabilistic automata for equivalence has been shown to be a
key problem for efficiently establishing various behavioural and anonymity
properties of probabilistic systems. In recent experiments a randomised
equivalence test based on polynomial identity testing outperformed
deterministic algorithms. In this paper we show that polynomial identity
testing yields efficient algorithms for various generalisations of the
equivalence problem. First, we provide a randomized NC procedure that also
outputs a counterexample trace in case of inequivalence. Second, we show how to
check for equivalence two probabilistic automata with (cumulative) rewards. Our
algorithm runs in deterministic polynomial time, if the number of reward
counters is fixed. Finally we show that the equivalence problem for
probabilistic visibly pushdown automata is logspace equivalent to the
Arithmetic Circuit Identity Testing problem, which is to decide whether a
polynomial represented by an arithmetic circuit is identically zero.Comment: technical report for a FoSSaCS'12 pape
Forward Analysis and Model Checking for Trace Bounded WSTS
We investigate a subclass of well-structured transition systems (WSTS), the
bounded---in the sense of Ginsburg and Spanier (Trans. AMS 1964)---complete
deterministic ones, which we claim provide an adequate basis for the study of
forward analyses as developed by Finkel and Goubault-Larrecq (Logic. Meth.
Comput. Sci. 2012). Indeed, we prove that, unlike other conditions considered
previously for the termination of forward analysis, boundedness is decidable.
Boundedness turns out to be a valuable restriction for WSTS verification, as we
show that it further allows to decide all -regular properties on the
set of infinite traces of the system
Real-Time Synthesis is Hard!
We study the reactive synthesis problem (RS) for specifications given in
Metric Interval Temporal Logic (MITL). RS is known to be undecidable in a very
general setting, but on infinite words only; and only the very restrictive BRRS
subcase is known to be decidable (see D'Souza et al. and Bouyer et al.). In
this paper, we precise the decidability border of MITL synthesis. We show RS is
undecidable on finite words too, and present a landscape of restrictions (both
on the logic and on the possible controllers) that are still undecidable. On
the positive side, we revisit BRRS and introduce an efficient on-the-fly
algorithm to solve it
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