606 research outputs found
Confluence versus Ample Sets in Probabilistic Branching Time
To improve the efficiency of model checking in general, and probabilistic model checking in particular, several reduction techniques have been introduced. Two of these, confluence reduction and partial-order reduction by means of ample sets, are based on similar principles, and both preserve branching-time properties for probabilistic models. Confluence reduction has been introduced for probabilistic automata, whereas ample set reduction has been introduced for Markov decision processes. In this presentation we will explore the relationship between confluence and ample sets. To this end, we redefine confluence reduction to handle MDPs. We show that all non-trivial ample sets consist of confluent transitions, but that the converse is not true. We also show that the two notions coincide if the definition of confluence is restricted, and point out the relevant parts where the two theories differ. The results we present also hold for non-probabilistic models, as our theorems can just as well be applied in a context where all transitions are non-probabilistic. To show a practical application of our results, we adapt a state space generation technique based on representative states, already known in combination with confluence reduction, so that it can also be applied with partial-order reduction
Probably Safe or Live
This paper presents a formal characterisation of safety and liveness
properties \`a la Alpern and Schneider for fully probabilistic systems. As for
the classical setting, it is established that any (probabilistic tree) property
is equivalent to a conjunction of a safety and liveness property. A simple
algorithm is provided to obtain such property decomposition for flat
probabilistic CTL (PCTL). A safe fragment of PCTL is identified that provides a
sound and complete characterisation of safety properties. For liveness
properties, we provide two PCTL fragments, a sound and a complete one. We show
that safety properties only have finite counterexamples, whereas liveness
properties have none. We compare our characterisation for qualitative
properties with the one for branching time properties by Manolios and Trefler,
and present sound and complete PCTL fragments for characterising the notions of
strong safety and absolute liveness coined by Sistla
Computation Tree Logic for Synchronization Properties
We present a logic that extends CTL (Computation Tree Logic) with operators that express synchronization properties. A property is synchronized in a system if it holds in all paths of a certain length. The new logic is obtained by using the same path quantifiers and temporal operators as in CTL, but allowing a different order of the quantifiers. This small syntactic variation induces a logic that can express non-regular properties for which known extensions of MSO with equality of path length are undecidable. We show that our variant of CTL is decidable and that the model-checking problem is in Delta_3^P = P^{NP^{NP}}, and is hard for the class of problems solvable in polynomial time using a parallel access to an NP oracle. We analogously consider quantifier exchange in extensions of CTL, and we present operators defined using basic operators of CTL* that express the occurrence of infinitely many synchronization points. We show that the model-checking problem remains in Delta_3^P. The distinguishing power of CTL and of our new logic coincide if the Next operator is allowed in the logics, thus the classical bisimulation quotient can be used for state-space reduction before model checking
Lipschitz Robustness of Finite-state Transducers
We investigate the problem of checking if a finite-state transducer is robust
to uncertainty in its input. Our notion of robustness is based on the analytic
notion of Lipschitz continuity --- a transducer is K-(Lipschitz) robust if the
perturbation in its output is at most K times the perturbation in its input. We
quantify input and output perturbation using similarity functions. We show that
K-robustness is undecidable even for deterministic transducers. We identify a
class of functional transducers, which admits a polynomial time
automata-theoretic decision procedure for K-robustness. This class includes
Mealy machines and functional letter-to-letter transducers. We also study
K-robustness of nondeterministic transducers. Since a nondeterministic
transducer generates a set of output words for each input word, we quantify
output perturbation using set-similarity functions. We show that K-robustness
of nondeterministic transducers is undecidable, even for letter-to-letter
transducers. We identify a class of set-similarity functions which admit
decidable K-robustness of letter-to-letter transducers.Comment: In FSTTCS 201
Confluence versus Ample Sets in Probabilistic Branching Time
To improve the efficiency of model checking in general, and probabilistic model checking in particular, several reduction techniques have been introduced. Two of these, confluence reduction and partial-order reduction by means of ample sets, are based on similar principles, and both preserve branching-time properties for probabilistic models. Confluence reduction has been introduced for probabilistic automata, whereas ample set reduction has been introduced for Markov decision processes. This paper explores the relationship between confluence and ample sets. To this end, we redefine confluence reduction to handle MDPs. We show that all non-trivial ample sets consist of confluent transitions, but that the converse is not true. We also show that the two notions coincide if the definition of confluence is restricted, and point out the relevant parts where the two theories differ. The results we present also hold for non-probabilistic models, as our theorems can just as well be applied in a context where all transitions are non-probabilistic. To show a practical application of our results, we adapt a state space generation technique based on representative states, already known in combination with confluence reduction, so that it can also be applied with partial-order reduction
Verification and Control of Partially Observable Probabilistic Real-Time Systems
We propose automated techniques for the verification and control of
probabilistic real-time systems that are only partially observable. To formally
model such systems, we define an extension of probabilistic timed automata in
which local states are partially visible to an observer or controller. We give
a probabilistic temporal logic that can express a range of quantitative
properties of these models, relating to the probability of an event's
occurrence or the expected value of a reward measure. We then propose
techniques to either verify that such a property holds or to synthesise a
controller for the model which makes it true. Our approach is based on an
integer discretisation of the model's dense-time behaviour and a grid-based
abstraction of the uncountable belief space induced by partial observability.
The latter is necessarily approximate since the underlying problem is
undecidable, however we show how both lower and upper bounds on numerical
results can be generated. We illustrate the effectiveness of the approach by
implementing it in the PRISM model checker and applying it to several case
studies, from the domains of computer security and task scheduling
On semantics and refinement of UML statecharts: a coalgebraic view
Statecharts was conceived as a visual formalism for the design of reactive systems. UML statecharts is an object-based variant of classical statecharts, incorporating several concepts different from the classical statecharts. This paper discusses a coalgebraic description of UML statecharts, directly derived from its operational semantics. In particular such an approach induces suitable notions of equivalence and (behavioral) refinement for statecharts. Finally, a few refinement laws are investigated to support verifiable stepwise system development with statecharts.(undefined
Bisimulations Meet PCTL Equivalences for Probabilistic Automata
Probabilistic automata (PAs) have been successfully applied in formal
verification of concurrent and stochastic systems. Efficient model checking
algorithms have been studied, where the most often used logics for expressing
properties are based on probabilistic computation tree logic (PCTL) and its
extension PCTL^*. Various behavioral equivalences are proposed, as a powerful
tool for abstraction and compositional minimization for PAs. Unfortunately, the
equivalences are well-known to be sound, but not complete with respect to the
logical equivalences induced by PCTL or PCTL*. The desire of a both sound and
complete behavioral equivalence has been pointed out by Segala in 1995, but
remains open throughout the years. In this paper we introduce novel notions of
strong bisimulation relations, which characterize PCTL and PCTL* exactly. We
extend weak bisimulations that characterize PCTL and PCTL* without next
operator, respectively. Further, we also extend the framework to simulation
preorders. Thus, our paper bridges the gap between logical and behavioral
equivalences and preorders in this setting.Comment: Long version of CONCUR'11 with the same title: added extension to
simulations, countable state
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