9,370 research outputs found
An expectation transformer approach to predicate abstraction and data independence for probabilistic programs
In this paper we revisit the well-known technique of predicate abstraction to
characterise performance attributes of system models incorporating probability.
We recast the theory using expectation transformers, and identify transformer
properties which correspond to abstractions that yield nevertheless exact bound
on the performance of infinite state probabilistic systems. In addition, we
extend the developed technique to the special case of "data independent"
programs incorporating probability. Finally, we demonstrate the subtleness of
the extended technique by using the PRISM model checking tool to analyse an
infinite state protocol, obtaining exact bounds on its performance
Transient Reward Approximation for Continuous-Time Markov Chains
We are interested in the analysis of very large continuous-time Markov chains
(CTMCs) with many distinct rates. Such models arise naturally in the context of
reliability analysis, e.g., of computer network performability analysis, of
power grids, of computer virus vulnerability, and in the study of crowd
dynamics. We use abstraction techniques together with novel algorithms for the
computation of bounds on the expected final and accumulated rewards in
continuous-time Markov decision processes (CTMDPs). These ingredients are
combined in a partly symbolic and partly explicit (symblicit) analysis
approach. In particular, we circumvent the use of multi-terminal decision
diagrams, because the latter do not work well if facing a large number of
different rates. We demonstrate the practical applicability and efficiency of
the approach on two case studies.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Reliabilit
SOS rule formats for convex and abstract probabilistic bisimulations
Probabilistic transition system specifications (PTSSs) in the format provide structural operational semantics for
Segala-type systems that exhibit both probabilistic and nondeterministic
behavior and guarantee that bisimilarity is a congruence for all operator
defined in such format. Starting from the
format, we obtain restricted formats that guarantee that three coarser
bisimulation equivalences are congruences. We focus on (i) Segala's variant of
bisimulation that considers combined transitions, which we call here "convex
bisimulation"; (ii) the bisimulation equivalence resulting from considering
Park & Milner's bisimulation on the usual stripped probabilistic transition
system (translated into a labelled transition system), which we call here
"probability obliterated bisimulation"; and (iii) a "probability abstracted
bisimulation", which, like bisimulation, preserves the structure of the
distributions but instead, it ignores the probability values. In addition, we
compare these bisimulation equivalences and provide a logic characterization
for each of them.Comment: In Proceedings EXPRESS/SOS 2015, arXiv:1508.0634
Symbolic Models for Stochastic Switched Systems: A Discretization and a Discretization-Free Approach
Stochastic switched systems are a relevant class of stochastic hybrid systems
with probabilistic evolution over a continuous domain and control-dependent
discrete dynamics over a finite set of modes. In the past few years several
different techniques have been developed to assist in the stability analysis of
stochastic switched systems. However, more complex and challenging objectives
related to the verification of and the controller synthesis for logic
specifications have not been formally investigated for this class of systems as
of yet. With logic specifications we mean properties expressed as formulae in
linear temporal logic or as automata on infinite strings. This paper addresses
these complex objectives by constructively deriving approximately equivalent
(bisimilar) symbolic models of stochastic switched systems. More precisely,
this paper provides two different symbolic abstraction techniques: one requires
state space discretization, but the other one does not require any space
discretization which can be potentially more efficient than the first one when
dealing with higher dimensional stochastic switched systems. Both techniques
provide finite symbolic models that are approximately bisimilar to stochastic
switched systems under some stability assumptions on the concrete model. This
allows formally synthesizing controllers (switching signals) that are valid for
the concrete system over the finite symbolic model, by means of mature
automata-theoretic techniques in the literature. The effectiveness of the
results are illustrated by synthesizing switching signals enforcing logic
specifications for two case studies including temperature control of a six-room
building.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1302.386
PrIC3: Property Directed Reachability for MDPs
IC3 has been a leap forward in symbolic model checking. This paper proposes
PrIC3 (pronounced pricy-three), a conservative extension of IC3 to symbolic
model checking of MDPs. Our main focus is to develop the theory underlying
PrIC3. Alongside, we present a first implementation of PrIC3 including the key
ingredients from IC3 such as generalization, repushing, and propagation
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