Summary: Formal modeling and analysis of hybrid systems:
A case study in multi­robot coordination
R. Alur ? , J. Esposito ?? , M. Kim \Lambda , V. Kumar \Lambda\Lambda , and I. Lee \Lambda
Abstract. The design of controllers for hybrid systems (i.e. mixed discrete­
continuous systems) in a systematic manner remains a challenging task.
In this case study, we apply formal modeling to the design of communi­
cation and control strategies for a team of autonomous robots to attain
specified goals in a coordinated manner. The model of linear hybrid au­
tomata is used to describe the high­level design, and the verification soft­
ware HyTech is used for symbolic analysis of the description. The goal of
the project is to understand tradeoffs among various design alternatives
by generating constraints among parameters using symbolic analysis. In
this paper, we report on difficulties in modeling a team of robots using
linear hybrid automata, results of analysis experiments, promise of the
approach, and challenges for future research.
1 Introduction
A hybrid system typically consists of a collection of digital programs that in­
teract with each other and with an analog environment. Examples of hybrid
systems include manufacturing controllers, automotive and flight controllers,
medical equipment, micro­electro­mechanical systems, and robots.

Source: Alur, Rajeev - Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences