Andreas Katis

Andreas Katis, Grigory Fedyukovich, Jeffrey Chen et al.

Diversity in the exhibited behavior of a given system is a desirable characteristic in a variety of application contexts. Synthesis of conformant implementations often proceeds by discovering witnessing Skolem functions, which are traditionally deterministic. In this paper, we present a novel Skolem extraction algorithm to enable synthesis of witnesses with random behavior and demonstrate its applicability in the context of reactive systems. The synthesized solutions are guaranteed by design to meet the given specification,while exhibiting a high degree of diversity in their responses to external stimuli. Case studies demonstrate how our proposed frame-work unveils a novel application of synthesis in model-based fuzz testing to generate fuzzers of competitive performance to general-purpose alternatives, as well as the practical utility of synthesized controllers in robot motion planning problems.

Andreas Katis, Grigory Fedyukovich, Huajun Guo et al.

Automated synthesis of reactive systems from specifications has been a topic of research for decades. Recently, a variety of approaches have been proposed to extend synthesis of reactive systems from proposi- tional specifications towards specifications over rich theories. We propose a novel, completely automated approach to program synthesis which reduces the problem to deciding the validity of a set of forall-exists formulas. In spirit of IC3 / PDR, our problem space is recursively refined by blocking out regions of unsafe states, aiming to discover a fixpoint that describes safe reactions. If such a fixpoint is found, we construct a witness that is directly translated into an implementation. We implemented the algorithm on top of the JKind model checker, and exercised it against contracts written using the Lustre specification language. Experimental results show how the new algorithm outperforms JKinds already existing synthesis procedure based on k-induction and addresses soundness issues in the k-inductive approach with respect to unrealizable results.

Andreas Katis, Grigory Fedyukovich, Andrew Gacek et al.

The realizability problem in requirements engineering is to determine the existence of an implementation that meets the given formal requirements. A step forward after realizability is proven, is to construct such an implementation automatically, and thus solve the problem of program synthesis. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to pro- gram synthesis guided by k-inductive proofs of realizability of assume- guarantee contracts constructed from safety properties. The proof of re- alizability is performed over a set of forall-exists formulas, and synthesis is per- formed by extracting Skolem functions witnessing the existential quan- tification. These Skolem functions can then be combined into an imple- mentation. Our approach is implemented in the JSyn tool which con- structs Skolem functions from a contract written in a variant of the Lus- tre programming language and then compiles the Skolem functions into a C language implementation. For a variety of benchmark models that already contained hand-written implementations, we are able to identify the usability and effectiveness of the synthesized counterparts, assuming a component-based verification framework.

Andreas Katis, Michael W. Whalen, Andrew Gacek

In previous work, we have introduced a contract-based real- izability checking algorithm for assume-guarantee contracts involving infinite theories, such as linear integer/real arith- metic and uninterpreted functions over infinite domains. This algorithm can determine whether or not it is possible to con- struct a realization (i.e. an implementation) of an assume- guarantee contract. The algorithm is similar to k-induction model checking, but involves the use of quantifiers to deter- mine implementability. While our work on realizability is inherently useful for vir- tual integration in determining whether it is possible for sup- pliers to build software that meets a contract, it also provides the foundations to solving the more challenging problem of component synthesis. In this paper, we provide an initial synthesis algorithm for assume-guarantee contracts involv- ing infinite theories. To do so, we take advantage of our realizability checking procedure and a skolemization solver for forall-exists formulas, called AE-VAL. We show that it is possible to immediately adapt our existing algorithm towards syn- thesis by using this solver, using a demonstration example. We then discuss challenges towards creating a more robust synthesis algorithm.

Andrew Gacek, Andreas Katis, Michael W. Whalen et al.

Virtual integration techniques focus on building architectural models of systems that can be analyzed early in the design cycle to try to lower cost, reduce risk, and improve quality of complex embedded systems. Given appropriate architectural descriptions and compositional reasoning rules, these techniques can be used to prove important safety properties about the architecture prior to system construction. Such proofs build from "leaf-level" assume/guarantee component contracts through architectural layers towards top-level safety properties. The proofs are built upon the premise that each leaf-level component contract is realizable; i.e., it is possible to construct a component such that for any input allowed by the contract assumptions, there is some output value that the component can produce that satisfies the contract guarantees. Without engineering support it is all too easy to write leaf-level components that can't be realized. Realizability checking for propositional contracts has been well-studied for many years, both for component synthesis and checking correctness of temporal logic requirements. However, checking realizability for contracts involving infinite theories is still an open problem. In this paper, we describe a new approach for checking realizability of contracts involving theories and demonstrate its usefulness on several examples.

Andreas Katis, Andrew Gacek, Michael W. Whalen

Virtual integration techniques focus on building architectural models of systems that can be analyzed early in the design cycle to try to lower cost, reduce risk, and improve quality of complex embedded systems. Given appropriate architectural descriptions, assume/guarantee contracts, and compositional reasoning rules, these techniques can be used to prove important safety properties about the architecture prior to system construction. For these proofs to be meaningful, each leaf-level component contract must be realizable; i.e., it is possible to construct a component such that for any input allowed by the contract assumptions, there is some output value that the component can produce that satisfies the contract guarantees. We have recently proposed (in [1]) a contract-based realizability checking algorithm for assume/guarantee contracts over infinite theories supported by SMT solvers such as linear integer/real arithmetic and uninterpreted functions. In that work, we used an SMT solver and an algorithm similar to k-induction to establish the realizability of a contract, and justified our approach via a hand proof. Given the central importance of realizability to our virtual integration approach, we wanted additional confidence that our approach was sound. This paper describes a complete formalization of the approach in the Coq proof and specification language. During formalization, we found several small mistakes and missing assumptions in our reasoning. Although these did not compromise the correctness of the algorithm used in the checking tools, they point to the value of machine-checked formalization. In addition, we believe this is the first machine-checked formalization for a realizability algorithm.