Sankaranarayanan, S., Tiwari, A. (2011). Relational Abstractions for Continuous and Hybrid Systems. In: Gopalakrishnan, G., Qadeer, S. (eds) Computer Aided Verification. CAV 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6806. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22110-1_56
Abstract
In this paper, we define relational abstractions of hybrid systems. A relational abstraction is obtained by replacing the continuous dynamics in each mode by a binary transition relation that relates a state of the system to any state that can potentially be reached at some future time instant using the continuous dynamics. We construct relational abstractions by reusing template-based invariant generation techniques for continuous systems described by Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE). As a result, we abstract a given hybrid system as a purely discrete, infinite-state system. We apply k-induction to this abstraction to prove safety properties, and use bounded model-checking to find potential falsifications. We present the basic underpinnings of our approach and demonstrate its use on many benchmark systems to derive simple and usable abstractions.
Keywords: Model Check, Hybrid System, Continuous System, Relational Invariant, Discrete Transition