arXiv subjects

Naijun Zhan

Publications and source records attributed to Naijun Zhan.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Robust Invariant Sets Computation for Switched Discrete-Time Polynomial Systems

In this paper we study the robust invariant sets generation problem for discrete-time switched polynomial systems subject to disturbance inputs within the optimal control framework. A robust invariant set of interest is a set of states such that every possible trajectory starting from it never leaves a specified safe set, regardless of actual disturbances. The maximal robust invariant set is shown to be the zero level set of the unique bounded solution to a Bellman type equation, which is a functional equation being widely used in discrete-time optimal control. This is the main contribution of this work. The uniqueness of bounded solutions enables us to solve the derived Bellman type equation using numerical methods such as the value iteration, which provides an approximation of the maximal robust invariant set. In order to increase the scalability of the Bellman equation based method, a semi-definite program, which is constructed based on the derived Bellman type equation, is also implemented to synthesize robust invariant sets. Finally, three examples demonstrate the performance of our methods.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2020

Synthesizing Robust Domains of Attraction for State-Constrained Perturbed Polynomial Systems

In this paper we propose a novel semi-definite programming based method to compute robust domains of attraction for state-constrained perturbed polynomial systems. A robust domain of attraction is a set of states such that every trajectory starting from it will approach an equilibrium while never violating a specified state constraint, regardless of the actual perturbation. The semi-definite program is constructed by relaxing a generalized Zubov's equation. The existence of solutions to the constructed semi-definite program is guaranteed and there exists a sequence of solutions such that their strict one sub-level sets inner-approximate the interior of the maximal robust domain of attraction in measure under appropriate assumptions. Some illustrative examples demonstrate the performance of our method.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2020

On Termination of Polynomial Programs with Equality Conditions

We investigate the termination problem of a family of multi-path polynomial programs (MPPs), in which all assignments to program variables are polynomials, and test conditions of loops and conditional statements are polynomial equalities. We show that the set of non-terminating inputs (NTI) of such a program is algorithmically computable, thus leading to the decidability of its termination. To the best of our knowledge, the considered family of MPPs is hitherto the largest one for which termination is decidable. We present an explicit recursive function which is essentially Ackermannian, to compute the maximal length of ascending chains of polynomial ideals under a control function, and thereby obtain a complete answer to the questions raised by Seidenberg. This maximal length facilitates a precise complexity analysis of our algorithms for computing the NTI and deciding termination of MPPs. We extend our method to programs with polynomial guarded commands and show how an incomplete procedure for MPPs with inequality guards can be obtained. An application of our techniques to invariant generation of polynomial programs is further presented.

cs.PL↗

arXiv2020

Unbounded-Time Safety Verification of Stochastic Differential Dynamics

In this paper, we propose a method for bounding the probability that a stochastic differential equation (SDE) system violates a safety specification over the infinite time horizon. SDEs are mathematical models of stochastic processes that capture how states evolve continuously in time. They are widely used in numerous applications such as engineered systems (e.g., modeling how pedestrians move in an intersection), computational finance (e.g., modeling stock option prices), and ecological processes (e.g., population change over time). Previously the safety verification problem has been tackled over finite and infinite time horizons using a diverse set of approaches. The approach in this paper attempts to connect the two views by first identifying a finite time bound, beyond which the probability of a safety violation can be bounded by a negligibly small number. This is achieved by discovering an exponential barrier certificate that proves exponentially converging bounds on the probability of safety violations over time. Once the finite time interval is found, a finite-time verification approach is used to bound the probability of violation over this interval. We demonstrate our approach over a collection of interesting examples from the literature, wherein our approach can be used to find tight bounds on the violation probability of safety properties over the infinite time horizon.

math.DS↗

arXiv2020

Nonlinear Craig Interpolant Generation

Interpolation-based techniques have become popularized in recent years because of their inherently modular and local reasoning, which can scale up existing formal verification techniques like theorem proving, model-checking, abstraction interpretation, and so on, while the scalability is the bottleneck of these techniques. Craig interpolant generation plays a central role in interpolation-based techniques, and therefore has drawn increasing attentions. In the literature, there are various works done on how to automatically synthesize interpolants for decidable fragments of first-order logic, linear arithmetic, array logic, equality logic with uninterpreted functions (EUF), etc., and their combinations. But Craig interpolant generation for non-linear theory and its combination with the aforementioned theories are still in infancy, although some attempts have been done. In this paper, we first prove that a polynomial interpolant of the form $h(\mathbf{x})>0$ exists for two mutually contradictory polynomial formulas $ϕ(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})$ and $ψ(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{z})$, with the form $f_1\ge0\wedge\cdots\wedge f_n\ge0$, where $f_i$ are polynomials in $\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y}$ or $\mathbf{x},\mathbf{z}$, and the quadratic module generated by $f_i$ is Archimedean. Then, we show that synthesizing such interpolant can be reduced to solving a semi-definite programming problem (${\rm SDP}$). In addition, we propose a verification approach to assure the validity of the synthesized interpolant and consequently avoid the unsoundness caused by numerical error in ${\rm SDP}$ solving. Finally, we discuss how to generalize our approach to general semi-algebraic formulas.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2020

Robust Regions of Attraction Generation for State-Constrained Perturbed Discrete-Time Polynomial Systems

In this paper we propose a convex programming based method for computing robust regions of attraction for state-constrained perturbed discrete-time polynomial systems. The robust region of attraction of interest is a set of states such that every possible trajectory initialized in it will approach an equilibrium state while never violating the specified state constraint, regardless of the actual perturbation. Based on a Bellman equation which characterizes the interior of the maximal robust region of attraction as the strict one sub-level set of its unique bounded and continuous solution, we construct a semi-definite program for computing robust regions of attraction. Under appropriate assumptions, the existence of solutions to the constructed semi-definite program is guaranteed and there exists a sequence of solutions such that their strict one sub-level sets inner-approximate and converge to the interior of the maximal robust region of attraction in measure. Finally, we demonstrate the method by two examples.

math.DS↗

arXiv2020

Learning One-Clock Timed Automata

We present an algorithm for active learning of deterministic timed automata with a single clock. The algorithm is within the framework of Angluin's $L^*$ algorithm and inspired by existing work on the active learning of symbolic automata. Due to the need of guessing for each transition whether it resets the clock, the algorithm is of exponential complexity in the size of the learned automata. Before presenting this algorithm, we propose a simpler version where the teacher is assumed to be smart in the sense of being able to provide the reset information. We show that this simpler setting yields a polynomial complexity of the learning process. Both of the algorithms are implemented and evaluated on a collection of randomly generated examples. We furthermore demonstrate the simpler algorithm on the functional specification of the TCP protocol.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2020

Over- and Under-Approximating Reachable Sets for Perturbed Delay Differential Equations

This note explores reach set computations for perturbed delay differential equations (DDEs). The perturbed DDEs of interest in this note is a class of DDEs whose dynamics are subject to perturbations, and their solutions feature the local homeomorphism property with respect to initial states. Membership in this class of perturbed DDEs is determined by conducting sensitivity analysis of solution mappings with respect to initial states to impose a bound constraint on the time-lag term. The homeomorphism property of solutions to such class of perturbed DDEs enables us to construct over- and under-approximations of reach sets by performing reachability analysis on just the boundaries of their permitted initial sets, thereby permitting an extension of reach set computation methods for ordinary differential equations to perturbed DDEs. Three examples demonstrate the performance of our approach.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2019

NIL: Learning Nonlinear Interpolants

Nonlinear interpolants have been shown useful for the verification of programs and hybrid systems in contexts of theorem proving, model checking, abstract interpretation, etc. The underlying synthesis problem, however, is challenging and existing methods have limitations on the form of formulae to be interpolated. We leverage classification techniques with space transformations and kernel tricks as established in the realm of machine learning, and present a counterexample-guided method named NIL for synthesizing polynomial interpolants, thereby yielding a unified framework tackling the interpolation problem for the general quantifier-free theory of nonlinear arithmetic, possibly involving transcendental functions. We prove the soundness of NIL and propose sufficient conditions under which NIL is guaranteed to converge, i.e., the derived sequence of candidate interpolants converges to an actual interpolant, and is complete, namely the algorithm terminates by producing an interpolant if there exists one. The applicability and effectiveness of our technique are demonstrated experimentally on a collection of representative benchmarks from the literature, where in particular, our method suffices to address more interpolation tasks, including those with perturbations in parameters, and in many cases synthesizes simpler interpolants compared with existing approaches.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2019

Reach-Avoid Differential Games Based on Invariant Generation

Reach-avoid differential games play an important role in collision avoidance, motion planning and control of aircrafts, and related applications. The central problem is the computation of the set of initial states from which the ego player can enforce the satisfiability of safety specifications over a specified time horizon. Previous methods addressing this problem mostly focus on finite time horizons. We study this problem in the context of the infinite time horizon, where the ego player aims to perpetually force the system to satisfy certain safety specification while the mutual other player attempts to enforce a violation of this safety specification. The problem is studied within the Hamilton-Jacobi reachability framework with unique Lipschitz continuous viscosity solutions. The continuity and uniqueness property of the viscosity solution facilitates the use of contemporary numerical methods to solve this problem with an appropriate number of state variables. An example adopted from a Moore-Greitzer jet-engine model is employed to illustrate our approach.

math.OC↗

arXiv2019

Inner-Approximating Reachable Sets for Polynomial Systems with Time-Varying Uncertainties

In this paper we propose a convex programming based method to address a long-standing problem of inner-approximating backward reachable sets of state-constrained polynomial systems subject to time-varying uncertainties. The backward reachable set is a set of states, from which all trajectories starting will surely enter a target region at the end of a given time horizon without violating a set of state constraints in spite of the actions of uncertainties. It is equal to the zero sub-level set of the unique Lipschitz viscosity solution to a Hamilton-Jacobi partial differential equation (HJE). We show that inner-approximations of the backward reachable set can be formed by zero sub-level sets of its viscosity super-solutions. Consequently, we reduce the inner-approximation problem to a problem of synthesizing polynomial viscosity super-solutions to this HJE. Such a polynomial solution in our method is synthesized by solving a single semi-definite program. We also prove that polynomial solutions to the formulated semi-definite program exist and can produce a convergent sequence of inner-approximations to the interior of the backward reachable set in measure under appropriate assumptions. This is the main contribution of this work. Several illustrative examples demonstrate the merits of our approach.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

Robust Non-termination Analysis of Numerical Software

Numerical software are widely used in safety-critical systems such as aircrafts, satellites, car engines and so on, facilitating dynamics control of such systems in real time, it is therefore absolutely necessary to verify their correctness. It is a long standing challenge to guarantee verified properties of numerical software are indeed satisfied by their real behaviours, because most of these verifications are conducted under ideal mathematical models, but their real executions could be influenced essentially by uncertain inputs accounting for round-off errors and additive perturbations from real-world phenomena to hardware, which are abstracted away in these ideal mathematical models. In this paper, we attempt to address this issue focusing on nontermination analysis of numerical software, where nontermination is often an unexpected behaviour of computer programs and may be problematic for applications such as real-time systems having hard deadlines on transaction execution time, and propose a method for robust conditional nontermination analysis, which can be used to under-approximate the maximal robust nontermination input set for a given program, from which the program never terminates, regardless of the aforementioned disturbances. Finally, several examples are employed to illustrate our approach.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

Parameter Synthesis Problems for one parametric clock Timed Automata

In this paper, we study the parameter synthesis problem for a class of parametric timed automata. The problem asks to construct the set of valuations of the parameters in the parametric timed automa- ton, referred to as the feasible region, under which the resulting timed automaton satisfies certain properties. We show that the parameter syn- thesis problem of parametric timed automata with only one parametric clock (unlimited concretely constrained clock) and arbitrarily many pa- rameters is solvable when all the expressions are linear expressions. And it is moreover the synthesis problem is solvable when the form of con- straints are parameter polynomial inequality not just simple constraint and parameter domain is nonnegative real number.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2017

Synthesizing SystemC Code from Delay Hybrid CSP

Delay is omnipresent in modern control systems, which can prompt oscillations and may cause deterioration of control performance, invalidate both stability and safety properties. This implies that safety or stability certificates obtained on idealized, delay-free models of systems prone to delayed coupling may be erratic, and further the incorrectness of the executable code generated from these models. However, automated methods for system verification and code generation that ought to address models of system dynamics reflecting delays have not been paid enough attention yet in the computer science community. In our previous work, on one hand, we investigated the verification of delay dynamical and hybrid systems; on the other hand, we also addressed how to synthesize SystemC code from a verified hybrid system modelled by Hybrid CSP (HCSP) without delay. In this paper, we give a first attempt to synthesize SystemC code from a verified delay hybrid system modelled by Delay HCSP (dHCSP), which is an extension of HCSP by replacing ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with delay differential equations (DDEs). We implement a tool to support the automatic translation from dHCSP to SystemC.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2017

Finding polynomial loop invariants for probabilistic programs

Quantitative loop invariants are an essential element in the verification of probabilistic programs. Recently, multivariate Lagrange interpolation has been applied to synthesizing polynomial invariants. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach. First, we fix a polynomial template as a candidate of a loop invariant. Using Stengle's Positivstellensatz and a transformation to a sum-of-squares problem, we find sufficient conditions on the coefficients. Then, we solve a semidefinite programming feasibility problem to synthesize the loop invariants. If the semidefinite program is unfeasible, we backtrack after increasing the degree of the template. Our approach is semi-complete in the sense that it will always lead us to a feasible solution if one exists and numerical errors are small. Experimental results show the efficiency of our approach.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2017

Compositional Hoare-style Reasoning about Hybrid CSP in the Duration Calculus

Deductive methods for the verification of hybrid systems vary on the format of statements in correctness proofs. Building on the example of Hoare triple-based reasoning, we have investigated several such methods for systems described in Hybrid CSP, each based on a different assertion language, notation for time, and notation for proofs, and each having its pros and cons with respect to expressive power, compositionality and practical convenience. In this paper we propose a new approach based on weakly monotonic time as the semantics for interleaving, the Duration Calculus (DC) with infinite intervals and general fixpoints as the logic language, and a new meaning for Hoare-like triples which unifies assertions and temporal conditions. We include a proof system for reasoning about the properties of systems written in the new form of triples that is complete relative to validity in DC.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2016

Interpolation synthesis for quadratic polynomial inequalities and combination with EUF

An algorithm for generating interpolants for formulas which are conjunctions of quadratic polynomial inequalities (both strict and nonstrict) is proposed. The algorithm is based on a key observation that quadratic polynomial inequalities can be linearized if they are concave. A generalization of Motzkin's transposition theorem is proved, which is used to generate an interpolant between two mutually contradictory conjunctions of polynomial inequalities, using semi-definite programming in time complexity $\mathcal{O}(n^3+nm))$, where $n$ is the number of variables and $m$ is the number of inequalities. Using the framework proposed by \cite{SSLMCS2008} for combining interpolants for a combination of quantifier-free theories which have their own interpolation algorithms, a combination algorithm is given for the combined theory of concave quadratic polynomial inequalities and the equality theory over uninterpreted functions symbols (\textit{EUF}). The proposed approach is applicable to all existing abstract domains like \emph{octagon}, \emph{polyhedra}, \emph{ellipsoid} and so on, therefore it can be used to improve the scalability of existing verification techniques for programs and hybrid systems. In addition, we also discuss how to extend our approach to formulas beyond concave quadratic polynomials using Gröbner basis.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2016

Approximate Bisimulation and Discretization of Hybrid CSP

Hybrid Communicating Sequential Processes (HCSP) is a powerful formal modeling language for hybrid systems, which is an extension of CSP by introducing differential equations for modeling continuous evolution and interrupts for modeling interaction between continuous and discrete dynamics. In this paper, we investigate the semantic foundation for HCSP from an operational point of view by proposing notion of approximate bisimulation, which provides an appropriate criterion to characterize the equivalence between HCSP processes with continuous and discrete behaviour. We give an algorithm to determine whether two HCSP processes are approximately bisimilar. In addition, based on that, we propose an approach on how to discretize HCSP, i.e., given an HCSP process A, we construct another HCSP process B which does not contain any continuous dynamics such that A and B are approximately bisimilar with given precisions. This provides a rigorous way to transform a verified control model to a correct program model, which fills the gap in the design of embedded systems.

cs.LO↗