Jan Strejček

LTL to büchi automata translation: fast and more deterministic

We introduce improvements in the algorithm by Gastin and Oddoux translating LTL formulae into Buchi automata via very weak alternating co-Buchi automata and generalized Buchi automata. Several improvements are based on specific properties of any formula where each branch of its syntax tree contains at least one eventually operator and at least one always operator. These changes usually result in faster translations and smaller automata. Other improvements reduce non-determinism in the produced automata. In fact, we modified all the steps of the original algorithm and its implementation known as LTL2BA. Experimental results show that our modifications are real improvements. Their implementations within an LTL2BA translation made LTL2BA very competitive with the current version of SPOT, sometimes outperforming it substantially.

Reachability analysis of multithreaded software with asynchronous communication

We introduce asynchronous dynamic pushdown networks (ADPN), a new model for multithreaded programs in which pushdown systems communicate via shared memory. ADPN generalizes both CPS (concurrent pushdown systems) and DPN (dynamic pushdown networks). We show that ADPN exhibit several advantages as a program model. Since the reachability problem for ADPN is undecidable even in the case without dynamic creation of processes, we address the bounded reachability problem, which considers only those computation sequences where the (index of the) thread accessing the shared memory is changed at most a fixed given number of times. We provide efficient algorithms for both forward and backward reachability analysis. The algorithms are based on automata techniques for symbolic representation of sets of configurations. This talk is based on joint work with Ahmed Bouajjani, Javier Esparza, and Jan Strejcek that appeared in FSTTCS 2005.

Extended Process Rewrite Systems: Expressiveness and reachability

We unify a view on three extensions of Process Rewrite Systems (PRS) and compare their expressive power with that of PRS. We show that the class of Petri nets is less expressive up to bisimulation equivalence than the class of PA processes extended with a finite state control unit. Further we show our main result that the reachability problem for PRS extended with a so called weak finite state unit is decidable.

The stuttering principle revisited

It is known that LTL formulae without the ‘next’ operator are invariant under the so-called stutter equivalence of words. In this paper we extend this principle to general LTL formulae with given nesting depths of both ‘next’ and ‘until’ operators. This allows us to prove the semantical strictness of three natural hierarchies of LTL formulae, which are parametrized either by the nesting depth of just one of the two operators, or by both of them. Further, we provide an effective characterization of languages definable by LTL formulae with a bounded nesting depth of the ‘next’ operator.

Effective Translation of LTL to Deterministic Rabin Automata: Beyond the (F,G)-Fragment

Some applications of linear temporal logic (LTL) require to translate formulae of the logic to deterministic ω-automata. There are currently two translators producing deterministic automata: ltl2dstar working for the whole LTL and Rabinizer applicable to LTL(F,G) which is the LTL fragment using only modalities F and G. We present a new translation to deterministic Rabin automata via alternating automata and deterministic transition-based generalized Rabin automata. Our translation applies to a fragment that is strictly larger than LTL(F,G). Experimental results show that our algorithm can produce significantly smaller automata compared to Rabinizer and ltl2dstar, especially for more complex LTL formulae.

The Hanoi Omega-Automata Format

We propose a flexible exchange format for \(\omega \)-automata, as typically used in formal verification, and implement support for it in a range of established tools. Our aim is to simplify the interaction of tools, helping the research community to build upon other people’s work. A key feature of the format is the use of very generic acceptance conditions, specified by Boolean combinations of acceptance primitives, rather than being limited to common cases such as Buchi, Streett, or Rabin. Such flexibility in the choice of acceptance conditions can be exploited in applications, for example in probabilistic model checking, and furthermore encourages the development of acceptance-agnostic tools for automata manipulations. The format allows acceptance conditions that are either state-based or transition-based, and also supports alternating automata. Open image in new window

Compositional Approach to Suspension and Other Improvements to LTL Translation

Recently, there was defined a fragment of LTL (containing fairness properties among other interesting formulae) whose validity over a given infinite word depends only on an arbitrary suffix of the word. Building upon an existing translation from LTL to Buchi automata, we introduce a compositional approach where subformulae of this fragment are translated separately from the rest of an input formula and the produced automata are composed in a way that the subformulae are checked only in relevant accepting strongly connected components of the final automaton. Further, we suggest improvements over some procedures commonly applied to generalized Buchi automata, namely over generalized acceptance simplification and over degeneralization. Finally we show how existing simulation-based reductions can be implemented in a signature-based framework in a way that improves the determinism of the automaton.

Abstracting path conditions

We present a symbolic-execution-based algorithm that for a given program and a given program location in it produces a nontrivial necessary condition on input values to drive the program execution to the given location. The algorithm is based on computation of loop summaries for loops along acyclic paths leading to the target location. We also propose an application of necessary conditions in contemporary bug-finding and test-generation tools. Experimental results on several small benchmarks show that the presented technique can in some cases significantly improve performance of the tools.

Comparison of LTL to Deterministic Rabin Automata Translators

Increasing interest in control synthesis and probabilistic model checking caused recent development of LTL to deterministic ω-automata translation. The standard approach represented by ltl2dstar tool employs Safra’s construction to determinize a Buchi automaton produced by some LTL to Buchi automata translator. Since 2012, three new LTL to deterministic Rabin automata translators appeared, namely Rabinizer, LTL3DRA, and Rabinizer 2. They all avoid Safra’s construction and work on LTL fragments only. We compare performance and automata produced by the mentioned tools, where ltl2dstar is combined with several LTL to Buchi automata translators: besides traditionally used LTL2BA, we also consider LTL− >NBA, LTL3BA, and Spot.

Reachability of hennessy-milner properties for weakly extended PRS

We examine the problem whether a given weakly extended process rewrite system (wPRS) contains a reachable state satisfying a given formula of Hennessy–Milner logic. We show that this problem is decidable. As a corollary we observe that the problem of strong bisimilarity between wPRS and finite-state systems is decidable. Decidability of the same problem for wPRS subclasses, namely PAN and PRS, has been formulated as an open question, see e.g. [Srb02]. We also strengthen some related undecidability results on some PRS subclasses.