1,728 research outputs found
Synchronization Problems in Automata without Non-trivial Cycles
We study the computational complexity of various problems related to
synchronization of weakly acyclic automata, a subclass of widely studied
aperiodic automata. We provide upper and lower bounds on the length of a
shortest word synchronizing a weakly acyclic automaton or, more generally, a
subset of its states, and show that the problem of approximating this length is
hard. We investigate the complexity of finding a synchronizing set of states of
maximum size. We also show inapproximability of the problem of computing the
rank of a subset of states in a binary weakly acyclic automaton and prove that
several problems related to recognizing a synchronizing subset of states in
such automata are NP-complete.Comment: Extended and corrected version, including arXiv:1608.00889.
Conference version was published at CIAA 2017, LNCS vol. 10329, pages
188-200, 201
Using Sat solvers for synchronization issues in partial deterministic automata
We approach the task of computing a carefully synchronizing word of minimum
length for a given partial deterministic automaton, encoding the problem as an
instance of SAT and invoking a SAT solver. Our experimental results demonstrate
that this approach gives satisfactory results for automata with up to 100
states even if very modest computational resources are used.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
DFAs and PFAs with Long Shortest Synchronizing Word Length
It was conjectured by \v{C}ern\'y in 1964, that a synchronizing DFA on
states always has a shortest synchronizing word of length at most ,
and he gave a sequence of DFAs for which this bound is reached. Until now a
full analysis of all DFAs reaching this bound was only given for ,
and with bounds on the number of symbols for . Here we give the full
analysis for , without bounds on the number of symbols.
For PFAs the bound is much higher. For we do a similar analysis as
for DFAs and find the maximal shortest synchronizing word lengths, exceeding
for . For arbitrary n we give a construction of a PFA on
three symbols with exponential shortest synchronizing word length, giving
significantly better bounds than earlier exponential constructions. We give a
transformation of this PFA to a PFA on two symbols keeping exponential shortest
synchronizing word length, yielding a better bound than applying a similar
known transformation.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures source code adde
Synchronizing Data Words for Register Automata
Register automata (RAs) are finite automata extended with a finite set of
registers to store and compare data from an infinite domain. We study the
concept of synchronizing data words in RAs: does there exist a data word that
sends all states of the RA to a single state?
For deterministic RAs with k registers (k-DRAs), we prove that inputting data
words with 2k+1 distinct data from the infinite data domain is sufficient to
synchronize. We show that the synchronization problem for DRAs is in general
PSPACE-complete, and it is NLOGSPACE-complete for 1-DRAs. For nondeterministic
RAs (NRAs), we show that Ackermann(n) distinct data (where n is the size of the
RA) might be necessary to synchronize. The synchronization problem for NRAs is
in general undecidable, however, we establish Ackermann-completeness of the
problem for 1-NRAs.
Another main result is the NEXPTIME-completeness of the length-bounded
synchronization problem for NRAs, where a bound on the length of the
synchronizing data word, written in binary, is given. A variant of this last
construction allows to prove that the length-bounded universality problem for
NRAs is co-NEXPTIME-complete
An Improved Algorithm for Finding the Shortest Synchronizing Words
A synchronizing word of a deterministic finite complete automaton is a word
whose action maps every state to a single one. Finding a shortest or a short
synchronizing word is a central computational problem in the theory of
synchronizing automata and is applied in other areas such as model-based
testing and the theory of codes. Because the problem of finding a shortest
synchronizing word is computationally hard, among \emph{exact} algorithms only
exponential ones are known. We redesign the previously fastest known exact
algorithm based on the bidirectional breadth-first search and improve it with
respect to time and space in a practical sense. We develop new algorithmic
enhancements and adapt the algorithm to multithreaded and GPU computing. Our
experiments show that the new algorithm is multiple times faster than the
previously fastest one and its advantage quickly grows with the hardness of the
problem instance. Given a modest time limit, we compute the lengths of the
shortest synchronizing words for random binary automata up to 570 states,
significantly beating the previous record. We refine the experimental
estimation of the average reset threshold of these automata. Finally, we
develop a general computational package devoted to the problem, where an
efficient and practical implementation of our algorithm is included, together
with several well-known heuristics.Comment: Full version of ESA 2022 pape
An Improved Algorithm for Finding the Shortest Synchronizing Words
A synchronizing word of a deterministic finite complete automaton is a word whose action maps every state to a single one. Finding a shortest or a short synchronizing word is a central computational problem in the theory of synchronizing automata and is applied in other areas such as model-based testing and the theory of codes. Because the problem of finding a shortest synchronizing word is computationally hard, among exact algorithms only exponential ones are known. We redesign the previously fastest known exact algorithm based on the bidirectional breadth-first search and improve it with respect to time and space in a practical sense. We develop new algorithmic enhancements and adapt the algorithm to multithreaded and GPU computing. Our experiments show that the new algorithm is multiple times faster than the previously fastest one and its advantage quickly grows with the hardness of the problem instance. Given a modest time limit, we compute the lengths of the shortest synchronizing words for random binary automata up to 570 states, significantly beating the previous record. We refine the experimental estimation of the average reset threshold of these automata. Finally, we develop a general computational package devoted to the problem, where an efficient and practical implementation of our algorithm is included, together with several well-known heuristics
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