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From Real-time Logic to Timed Automata

Published: 23 May 2019 Publication History

Abstract

We show how to construct temporal testers for the logic MITL, a prominent linear-time logic for real-time systems. A temporal tester is a transducer that inputs a signal holding the Boolean value of atomic propositions and outputs the truth value of a formula along time. Here we consider testers over continuous-time Boolean signals that use clock variables to enforce duration constraints, as in timed automata. We first rewrite the MITL formula into a “simple” formula using a limited set of temporal modalities. We then build testers for these specific modalities and show how to compose testers for simple formulae into complex ones. Temporal testers can be turned into acceptors, yielding a compositional translation from MITL to timed automata. This construction is much simpler than previously known and remains asymptotically optimal. It supports both past and future operators and can easily be extended.

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cover image Journal of the ACM
Journal of the ACM  Volume 66, Issue 3
June 2019
221 pages
ISSN:0004-5411
EISSN:1557-735X
DOI:10.1145/3324923
Issue’s Table of Contents
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Publication History

Published: 23 May 2019
Accepted: 01 December 2018
Revised: 01 November 2018
Received: 01 April 2018
Published in JACM Volume 66, Issue 3

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Author Tags

  1. Temporal logic
  2. formal verification
  3. model checking
  4. real-time
  5. timed automata

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