Publication Data
Statistical verification of probabilistic properties with unbounded until
Abstract: We consider statistical (sampling-based) solution methods
for verifying probabilistic properties with unbounded until. Statistical solution
methods for probabilistic verification use sample execution trajectories for a system
to verify properties with some level of confidence. The main challenge with properties
that are expressed using unbounded until is to ensure termination in the face of
potentially infinite sample execution trajectories. We describe two alternative
solution methods, each one with its own merits. The first method relies on reachability
analysis, and is suitable primarily for large Markov chains where reachability analysis
can be performed efficiently using symbolic data structures, but for which numerical
probability computations are expensive. The second method employs a termination
probability and weighted sampling. This method does not rely on any specific structure
of the model, but error control is more challenging. We show how the choice of
termination probability---when applied to Markov chains---is tied to the subdominant
eigenvalue of the transition probability matrix, which relates it to iterative
numerical solution techniques for the same problem.
