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Introduction to Active Automata Learning from a Practical Perspective

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Formal Methods for Eternal Networked Software Systems (SFM 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 6659))

Abstract

In this chapter we give an introduction to active learning of Mealy machines, an automata model particularly suited for modeling the behavior of realistic reactive systems. Active learning is characterized by its alternation of an exploration phase and a testing phase. During exploration phases so-called membership queries are used to construct hypothesis models of a system under learning. In testing phases so-called equivalence queries are used to compare respective hypothesis models to the actual system. These two phases are iterated until a valid model of the target system is produced.

We will step-wisely elaborate on this simple algorithmic pattern, its underlying correctness arguments, its limitations, and, in particular, ways to overcome apparent hurdles for practical application. This should provide students and outsiders of the field with an intuitive account of the high potential of this challenging research area in particular concerning the control and validation of evolving reactive systems.

This work is supported by the European FP 7 project CONNECT (IST 231167).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair for Programming Systems, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, D-44227, Germany

    Bernhard Steffen, Falk Howar & Maik Merten

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  1. Bernhard Steffen
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  2. Falk Howar
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  3. Maik Merten
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze di Base e Fondamenti, Università di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Piazza della Repubblica 13, 61029, Urbino, Italy

    Marco Bernardo

  2. INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt, France

    Valérie Issarny

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Steffen, B., Howar, F., Merten, M. (2011). Introduction to Active Automata Learning from a Practical Perspective. In: Bernardo, M., Issarny, V. (eds) Formal Methods for Eternal Networked Software Systems. SFM 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6659. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21455-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21455-4_8

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