Realizability of embedded controllers: from hybrid models to correct implementations

Un controller embedded \ue8 un dispositivo (ovvero, un'opportuna combinazione di componenti hardware e software) che, immerso in un ambiente dinamico, deve reagire alle variazioni ambientali in tempo reale. I controller embedded sono largamente adottati in molti contesti della vita moderna, dall'automotive all'avionica, dall'elettronica di consumo alle attrezzature mediche. La correttezza di tali controller \ue8 indubbiamente cruciale. Per la progettazione e per la verifica di un controller embedded, spesso sorge la necessit\ue0 di modellare un intero sistema che includa sia il controller, sia il suo ambiente circostante. La natura di tale sistema \ue8 ibrido. Esso, infatti, \ue8 ottenuto integrando processi ad eventi discreti (i.e., il controller) e processi a tempo continuo (i.e., l'ambiente). Sistemi di questo tipo sono chiamati cyber-physical (CPS) o sistemi ibridi. Le dinamiche di tali sistemi non possono essere rappresentati efficacemente utilizzando o solo un modello (i.e., rappresentazione) discreto o solo un modello continuo. Diversi tipi di modelli possono sono stati proposti per descrivere i sistemi ibridi. Questi si concentrano su obiettivi diversi: modelli dettagliati sono eccellenti per la simulazione del sistema, ma non sono adatti per la sua verifica; modelli meno dettagliati sono eccellenti per la verifica, ma non sono convenienti per i successivi passi di raffinamento richiesti per la progettazione del sistema, e cos\uec via. Tra tutti questi modelli, gli Automi Ibridi (HA) [8, 77] rappresentano il formalismo pi\uf9 efficace per la simulazione e la verifica di sistemi ibridi. In particolare, un automa ibrido rappresenta i processi ad eventi discreti per mezzo di macchine a stati finiti (FSM), mentre i processi a tempo continuo sono rappresentati mediante variabili "continue" la cui dinamica \ue8 specificata da equazioni differenziali ordinarie (ODE) o loro generalizzazioni (e.g., inclusioni differenziali). Sfortunatamente, a causa della loro particolare semantica, esistono diverse difficolt\ue0 nel raffinare un modello basato su automi ibridi in un modello realizzabile e, di conseguenza, esistono difficolt\ue0 nell'automatizzare il flusso di progettazione di sistemi ibridi a partire da automi ibridi. Gli automi ibridi, infatti, sono considerati dispositivi "perfetti e istantanei". Essi adottano una nozione di tempo e di variabili basata su insiemi "densi" (i.e., l'insieme dei numeri reali). Pertanto, gli automi ibridi possono valutare lo stato (i.e., i valori delle variabili) del sistema in ogni istante, ovvero in ogni infinitesimo di tempo, e con la massima precisione. Inoltre, sono in grado di eseguire computazioni o reagire ad eventi di sincronizzazione in modo istantaneo, andando a cambiare la modalit\ue0 di funzionamento del sistema senza alcun ritardo. Questi aspetti sono convenienti a livello di modellazione, ma nessun dispositivo hardware/software potrebbe implementare correttamente tali comportamenti, indipendentemente dalle sue prestazioni. In altre parole, il controller modellato potrebbe non essere implementabile, ovvero, esso potrebbe non essere realizzabile affatto. Questa tesi affronta questo problema proponendo una metodologia completa e gli strumenti necessari per derivare da modelli basati su automi ibridi, modelli realizzabili e le corrispondenti implementazioni corrette. In un modello realizzabile, il controller analizza lo stato del sistema ad istanti temporali discreti, tipicamente fissati dalla frequenza di clock del processore installato sul dispositivo che implementa il controller. Lo stato del sistema \ue8 dato dai valori delle variabili rilevati dai sensori. Questi valori vengono digitalizzati con precisione finita e propagati al controller che li elabora per decidere se cambiare la modalit\ue0 di funzionamento del sistema. In tal caso, il controller genera segnali che, una volta trasmessi agli attuatori, determineranno il cambiamento della modalit\ue0 di funzionamento del sistema. \uc8 necessario tener presente che i sensori e gli attuatori introducono ritardi che seppur limitati, non possono essere trascurati.An embedded controller is a reactive device (e.g., a suitable combination of hardware and software components) that is embedded in a dynamical environment and has to react to environment changes in real time. Embedded controllers are widely adopted in many contexts of modern life, from automotive to avionics, from consumer electronics to medical equipment. Noticeably, the correctness of such controllers is crucial. When designing and verifying an embedded controller, often the need arises to model the controller and also its surrounding environment. The nature of the obtained system is hybrid because of the inclusion of both discrete-event (i.e., controller) and continuous-time (i.e., environment) processes whose dynamics cannot be characterized faithfully using either a discrete or continuous model only. Systems of this kind are named cyber-physical (CPS) or hybrid systems. Different types of models may be used to describe hybrid systems and they focus on different objectives: detailed models are excellent for simulation but not suitable for verification, high-level models are excellent for verification but not convenient for refinement, and so forth. Among all these models, hybrid automata (HA) [8, 77] have been proposed as a powerful formalism for the design, simulation and verification of hybrid systems. In particular, a hybrid automaton represents discrete-event processes by means of finite state machines (FSM), whereas continuous-time processes are represented by using real-numbered variables whose dynamics is specified by (ordinary) differential equation (ODE) or their generalizations (e.g., differential inclusions). Unfortunately, when the high-level model of the hybrid system is a hybrid automaton, several difficulties should be solved in order to automate the refinement phase in the design flow, because of the classical semantics of hybrid automata. In fact, hybrid automata can be considered perfect and instantaneous devices. They adopt a notion of time and evaluation of continuous variables based on dense sets of values (usually R, i.e., Reals). Thus, they can sample the state (i.e., value assignments on variables) of the hybrid system at any instant in such a dense set R 650. Further, they are capable of instantaneously evaluating guard constraints or reacting to incoming events by performing changes in the operating mode of the hybrid system without any delay. While these aspects are convenient at the modeling level, any model of an embedded controller that relies for its correctness on such precision and instantaneity cannot be implemented by any hardware/software device, no matter how fast it is. In other words, the controller is un-realizable, i.e., un-implementable. This thesis proposes a complete methodology and a framework that allows to derive from hybrid automata proved correct in the hybrid domain, correct realizable models of embedded controllers and the related discrete implementations. In a realizable model, the controller samples the state of the environment at periodic discrete time instants which, typically, are fixed by the clock frequency of the processor implementing the controller. The state of the environment consists of the current values of the relevant variables as observed by the sensors. These values are digitized with finite precision and reported to the controller that may decide to switch the operating mode of the environment. In such a case, the controller generates suitable output signals that, once transmitted to the actuators, will effect the desired change in the operating mode. It is worth noting that the sensors will report the current values of the variables and the actuators will effect changes in the rates of evolution of the variables with bounded delays

Fairness Testing: Testing Software for Discrimination

This paper defines software fairness and discrimination and develops a testing-based method for measuring if and how much software discriminates, focusing on causality in discriminatory behavior. Evidence of software discrimination has been found in modern software systems that recommend criminal sentences, grant access to financial products, and determine who is allowed to participate in promotions. Our approach, Themis, generates efficient test suites to measure discrimination. Given a schema describing valid system inputs, Themis generates discrimination tests automatically and does not require an oracle. We evaluate Themis on 20 software systems, 12 of which come from prior work with explicit focus on avoiding discrimination. We find that (1) Themis is effective at discovering software discrimination, (2) state-of-the-art techniques for removing discrimination from algorithms fail in many situations, at times discriminating against as much as 98% of an input subdomain, (3) Themis optimizations are effective at producing efficient test suites for measuring discrimination, and (4) Themis is more efficient on systems that exhibit more discrimination. We thus demonstrate that fairness testing is a critical aspect of the software development cycle in domains with possible discrimination and provide initial tools for measuring software discrimination.Comment: Sainyam Galhotra, Yuriy Brun, and Alexandra Meliou. 2017. Fairness Testing: Testing Software for Discrimination. In Proceedings of 2017 11th Joint Meeting of the European Software Engineering Conference and the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE), Paderborn, Germany, September 4-8, 2017 (ESEC/FSE'17). https://doi.org/10.1145/3106237.3106277, ESEC/FSE, 201

Towards a Unified Theory of Timed Automata

Timed automata are finite-state machines augmented with special clock variables that reflect the advancement of time. Able to both capture real-time behavior and be verified algorithmically (model-checked), timed automata are used to model real-time systems. These observations have led to the development of several timed-automata verification tools that have been successfully applied to the analysis of a number of different systems; however, the practical utility of timed automata is undermined by the theories underlying different tools differing in subtle but important ways. Since algorithmic results that hold for the variant used by one tool may not apply to another variant, this complicates the application of different tools to different models. The thesis of this dissertation is this: the theory of timed automata can be unified, and a practical unified approach to timed-automata model checking can be built around the paradigm of proof search. First, this dissertation establishes the mutual expressivity of timed automata variants, thereby providing precise characterizations of when theoretical results of one variant apply to other variants. Second, it proves powerful expressive properties about different logics for timed behavior, and as a result, enlarges the set of verifiable properties. Third, it discusses an implementation of a verification tool for an expressive fixpoint-based logic, demonstrating an application of this newly developed theory. The tool is based on a proof-search paradigm; verifying timed automata involves constructing proofs using proof rules that enable verification problems to be translated into subproblems that must be solved. The tool's performance is optimized by using derived proof rules, thereby providing a theoretically sound basis for faster model checking. Last, this dissertation utilizes the proofs generated during verification to gain additional information about the vacuous satisfaction of certain formulae: whether the automaton satisfied a formula by never satisfying certain premises of that specification. This extra information is often obtained without significantly decreasing the verifier's performance

Génération de séquences de test pour l'accélération d'assertions

Avec la complexité croissante des systèmes sur puce, le processus de vérification devient une tâche de plus en plus cruciale à tous les niveaux du cycle de conception, et monopolise une part importante du temps de développement. Dans ce contexte, l'assertion-based verification (ABV) a considérablement gagné en popularité ces dernières années. Il s'agit de spécifier le comportement attendu du système par l'intermédiaire de propriétés logico-temporelles, et de vérifier ces propriétés par des méthodes semi-formelles ou formelles. Des langages de spécification comme PSL ou SVA (standards IEEE) sont couramment utilisés pour exprimer ces propriétés. Des techniques de vérification statiques (model checking) ou dynamiques (validation en cours de simulation) peuvent être mises en œuvre. Nous nous plaçons dans le contexte de la vérification dynamique. A partir d'assertions exprimées en PSL ou SVA, des descriptions VHDL ou Verilog synthétisables de moniteurs matériels de surveillance peuvent être produites (outil Horus). Ces composants peuvent être utilisés pendant la conception (en simulation et/ou émulation pour le débug et la validation de circuits), ou comme composants embarqués, pour la surveillance du comportement de systèmes critiques. Pour l'analyse en phase de conception, que ce soit en simulation ou en émulation, le problème de la génération des séquences de test se pose. En effet, des séquences de test générées aléatoirement peuvent conduire à un faible taux de couverture des conditions d'activation des moniteurs et, de ce fait, peuvent être peu révélatrices de la satisfaction des assertions. Les méthodes de génération de séquences de test sous contraintes n'apportent pas de réelle solution car les contraintes ne peuvent pas être liées à des conditions temporelles. De nouvelles méthodes doivent être spécifiées et implémentées, c'est ce que nous nous proposons d'étudier dans cette thèse.With the increasing complexity of SoC, the verification process becomes a task more crucial at all levels of the design cycle, and monopolize a large share of development time. In this context, the assertion-based verification (ABV) has gained considerable popularity in recent years. This is to specify the behavior of the system through logico-temporal properties and check these properties by semiformal or formal methods. Specification languages such as PSL or SVA (IEEE) are commonly used to express these properties. Static verification techniques (model checking) or dynamic (during simulation) can be implemented. We are placed in the context of dynamic verification. Our assertions are expressed in PSL or SVA, and synthesizable descriptions VHDL or Verilog hardware surveillance monitors can be produced (Horus tool). These components can be used for design (simulation and/or emulation for circuit debug and validation) or as embedded components for monitoring the behavior of critical systems. For analysis in the design phase, either in simulation or emulation, the problem of generating test sequences arises. In effect, sequences of randomly generated test can lead to a low coverage conditions of activation monitors and, therefore, may be indicative of little satisfaction assertions. The methods of generation of test sequences under constraints do not provide real solution because the constraints can not be linked to temporal conditions. New methods must be specified and implemented, this's what we propose to study in this thesis.SAVOIE-SCD - Bib.électronique (730659901) / SudocGRENOBLE1/INP-Bib.électronique (384210012) / SudocGRENOBLE2/3-Bib.électronique (384219901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Comparison of the vocabularies of the Gregg shorthand dictionary and Horn-Peterson's basic vocabulary of business letters

This study is a comparative analysis of the vocabularies of Horn and Peterson's The Basic Vocabulary of Business Letters1 and the Gregg Shorthand Dictionary.2 Both books purport to present a list of words most frequently encountered by stenographers and students of shorthand. The, Basic Vocabulary of Business Letters, published "in answer to repeated requests for data on the words appearing most frequently in business letters,"3 is a frequency list specific to business writing. Although the book carries the copyright date of 1943, the vocabulary was compiled much earlier. The listings constitute a part of the data used in the preparation of the 10,000 words making up the ranked frequency list compiled by Ernest Horn and staff and published in 1926 under the title of A Basic Writing Vocabulary: 10,000 Words Lost Commonly Used in Writing. The introduction to that publication gives credit to Miss Cora Crowder for the contribution of her Master's study at the University of Minnesota concerning words found in business writing. With additional data from supplementary sources, the complete listing represents twenty-six classes of business, as follows 1. Miscellaneous 2. Florists 3. Automobile manufacturers and sales companie

Vacuity Analysis for Property Qualification by Mutation of Checkers

The paper tackles the problem of property qualification focusing in particular on the identification of vacuous properties. It proposes a methodology based on a combination of dynamic and static techniques that, given a set of properties defined to check the correctness of a design implementation, performs vacuity detection. Existing approaches for vacuity checking are as complex as model checking, and they require to define and model check further properties, thus increasing the verification time. Moreover, for some formulae they fail to detect vacuity, as for example in case of tautology. These problems are overcome by our approach. It is based on mutation analysis, thus, it does not require the definition of new properties granting a speed-up of the vacuity analysis process. Moreover, it provides highly accurate vacuity alerts which capture also propositional and temporal tautologies

Circuits in motion. Polysystem theory and the analysis of culture

191 p.Descargas previas 26 Idea makers allied to centers of power are able to flood the citizenry with a Nile-sized flow of images each and every day, a current so large and seemingly untamed that it robs many otherwise perspicacious people of their ability to remember a key, and we believe, unassailable postulate of Polysystem Theory critical outlook, that there is no cohesion, and therefore no recognizable schemas of meaning in culture without the “curating” of extant cultural inventories. In short, Even-Zohar’s theory teaches us that, however invisible their presence might seem to be in a given moment, there are always relatively small groups of people working in concert with key power holders to generate and maintain elite-friendly concepts of “reality” for the rest of us, and that with a little bit of searching, we can actually locate and expose to others exactly who they are, and how they work their semiotic magic on the majority.This book has been published within the framework of the LAIDA Research Group (Literature and Identity) (IT 1397/19, GIU 20/26), recognised entity of the Network of Research Groups of the Basque Government and recognised by the University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea. Economically supported by the Vice-Rectorate of the Campus of Biscay of the UPV / EHU and the Vice-Rectorate of the Research Area

Crafting the JFK legend: How the Kennedy story is constructed and retold

This thesis explores how the ambivalently multifarious Kennedy ‘stories’ of JFK as Icon or Myth are constructed and how its ‘telling’ has been profoundly influenced by authorial intent. In contrast with much of the Kennedy literature, that often blurs the two, the thesis therefore works with a strong distinction between ‘Icon’ as having wholly positive connotations and ‘Myth’ as a narrative which either falsifies or negatively debunks any pre-existing positive accounts of its subject matter.My focus on newspaper articles, in particular from The New York Times and The Dallas Morning News, arises from the familiarly powerful claim that journalists write ‘the first draft of history’, although the thesis also reaches beyond journalism. Crucial to the argument is E. H. Carr’s historiography and its contention that historical facts are selected and presented according to particular hypotheses utilized by historians of any stripe for their own particular purposes. The thesis uses J. L. Austin’s theory of speech acts to demonstrate how the telling of the Kennedy story has variously employed techniques not only supposedly just to describe his legacy (the locutionary speech act) but also a) to create a legacy (the illocutionary speech act) and b) to influence audience attitudes toward the legacy (the perlocutionary speech act).The malleability of the Kennedy story helps to explain the reason why there remains so many attempts to retell it. The thesis also opens up consideration as to why it is this particular story that so many still want to hear