In the early two-thousands, Recursive Petri nets have been introduced in order to model distributed planning of multi-agent systems for which counters and recursivity were necessary. Although Recursive Petri nets strictly extend Petri nets and context-free grammars, most of the usual problems (reachability, coverability, finiteness, boundedness and termination) were known to be solvable by using non-primitive recursive algorithms. For almost all other extended Petri nets models containing a stack, the complexity of coverability and termination are unknown or strictly larger than EXPSPACE. In contrast, we establish here that for Recursive Petri nets, the coverability, termination, boundedness and finiteness problems are EXPSPACE-complete as for Petri nets. From an expressiveness point of view, we show that coverability languages of Recursive Petri nets strictly include the union of coverability languages of Petri nets and context-free languages. Thus we get a more powerful model than Petri net for free.
The coverability problem for Petri nets plays a central role in the verification of concurrent shared-memory programs. However, its high EXPSPACE-complete complexity poses a challenge when encountered in real-world instances. In this paper, we develop a new approach to this problem which is primarily based on applying forward coverability in continuous Petri nets as a pruning criterion inside a backward coverability framework. A cornerstone of our approach is the efficient encoding of a recently developed polynomial-time algorithm for reachability in continuous Petri nets into SMT. We demonstr…
The verification of safety properties for concurrent systems often reduces to the coverability problem for Petri nets. This problem was shown to be ExpSpace-complete forty years ago. Driven by the concurrency revolution, it has regained a lot of interest over the last decade. In this paper, we propose a generic and simple approach to solve this problem. Our method is inspired from the recent approach of Blondin, Finkel, Haase and Haddad. Basically, we combine forward invariant generation techniques for Petri nets with backward reachability for well- structured transition systems. An experiment…
We consider timed Petri nets, i.e., unbounded Petri nets where each token carries a real-valued clock. Transition arcs are labeled with time intervals, which specify constraints on the ages of tokens. Our cost model assigns token storage costs per time unit to places, and firing costs to transitions. We study the cost to reach a given control-state. In general, a cost-optimal run may not exist. However, we show that the infimum of the costs is computable.
Time-Basic Petri nets, is a powerful formalism for modeling real-time systems where time constraints are expressed through time functions of marking's time description associated with transition, representing possible firing times. We introduce a technique for coverability analysis based on the building of a finite graph. This technique further exploits the time anonymous concept [5,6], in order to deal with topologically unbounded nets, exploits the concept of a coverage of TA tokens, i.e., a sort of ω anonymous timestamp. Such a coverability analysis technique is able to construct coverabili…
We give an incremental, inductive (IC3) procedure to check coverability of well-structured transition systems. Our procedure generalizes the IC3 procedure for safety verification that has been successfully applied in finite-state hardware verification to infinite-state well-structured transition systems. We show that our procedure is sound, complete, and terminating for downward-finite well-structured transition systems---where each state has a finite number of states below it---a class that contains extensions of Petri nets, broadcast protocols, and lossy channel systems. We have implemented …
We study the size and the complexity of computing finite state automata (FSA) representing and approximating the downward and the upward closure of Petri net languages with coverability as the acceptance condition. We show how to construct an FSA recognizing the upward closure of a Petri net language in doubly-exponential time, and therefore the size is at most doubly exponential. For downward closures, we prove that the size of the minimal automata can be non-primitive recursive. In the case of BPP nets, a well-known subclass of Petri nets, we show that an FSA accepting the downward/upward cl…
Model checking is an important aim of the theoretical computer science. It enables the verification of a model with a set of properties such as liveness, deadlock or safety. One of the typical modelling techniques are Petri nets they are well understood and can be used for a model checking. Reconfigurable Petri nets are based on a Petri nets with a set of rules. These rules can be used dynamically to change the net. Missing is the possibility to verify a reconfigurable net and properties such as deadlocks or liveness. This paper introduces a conversion from reconfigurable Petri net to Maude, t…
We show that there are $Σ_3^0$-complete languages of infinite words accepted by non-deterministic Petri nets with Büchi acceptance condition, or equivalently by Büchi blind counter automata. This shows that omega-languages accepted by non-deterministic Petri nets are topologically more complex than those accepted by deterministic Petri nets.
We consider priced timed Petri nets, i.e., unbounded Petri nets where each token carries a real-valued clock. Transition arcs are labeled with time intervals, which specify constraints on the ages of tokens. Furthermore, our cost model assigns token storage costs per time unit to places, and firing costs to transitions. This general model strictly subsumes both priced timed automata and unbounded priced Petri nets. We study the cost of computations that reach a given control-state. In general, a computation with minimal cost may not exist, due to strict inequalities in the time constraints. Ho…
We investigate the decidability of termination, reachability, coverability and deadlock-freeness of Petri nets endowed with a hierarchy on places, and with inhibitor arcs, reset arcs and transfer arcs that respect this hierarchy. We also investigate what happens when we have a mix of these special arcs, some of which respect the hierarchy, while others do not. We settle the decidability status of the above four problems for all combinations of hierarchy, inhibitor, reset and transfer arcs, except the termination problem for two combinations. For both these combinations, we show that the termin…
Unfoldings provide an efficient way to avoid the state-space explosion due to interleavings of concurrent transitions when exploring the runs of a Petri net. The theory of adequate orders allows one to define finite prefixes of unfoldings which contain all the reachable markings. In this paper we are interested in reachability of a single given marking, called the goal. We propose an algorithm for computing a finite prefix of the unfolding of a 1-safe Petri net that preserves all minimal configurations reaching this goal. Our algorithm combines the unfolding technique with on-the-fly model red…
For every finite Petri net, we construct a commutative polynomial in two variables and with coefficients from the semiring of natural numbers. We also present an inverse construction and show that multiplication of polynomials correspondence to the product of the corresponding Petri nets in the category of Petri nets with Winskel's morphisms. We endow the set of all Petri nets with Zariski topology.
A new formalism of Petri nets, based on the adoption of the "position-arc-transition" triad and "transition-arc-position" triad as structure-forming units is introduced. In accordance with the Fusion principle, an analytical representation of Petri nets is developed. We propose the concept of Creative Petri Nets, which allows to implement structural changes in Petri net by procreation/deletion of structural units or complexes.
We present an embedding of Petri nets into B abstract systems. The embedding is achieved by translating both the static structure (modelling aspect) and the evolution semantics of Petri nets. The static structure of a Petri-net is captured within a B abstract system through a graph structure. This abstract system is then included in another abstract system which captures the evolution semantics of Petri-nets. The evolution semantics results in some B events depending on the chosen policies: basic nets or high level Petri nets. The current embedding enables one to use conjointly Petri nets and …
New subclasses of Petri nets - Petri nets receptors and Petri nets effectors are introduced. The introduction/exclusion of such substructures in the main Petri net may be fulfilled in accordance with the Fusion/Defusion principles. We propose two pairs of entities: position marking receptor (effector) and transition marking receptor (effector), which allow to observe parameters of the main Petri net and, if necessary, to carry out their regulation.
We formalise a general concept of distributed systems as sequential components interacting asynchronously. We define a corresponding class of Petri nets, called LSGA nets, and precisely characterise those system specifications which can be implemented as LSGA nets up to branching ST-bisimilarity with explicit divergence.
We introduce a novel technique for checking reachability in Petri nets that relies on a recently introduced compositional algebra of nets. We prove that the technique is correct, and discuss our implementation. We report promising experimental results on some well-known examples.
Brown and Gurr have introduced a model of Petri Nets that is based on de~Paiva's Dialectica categories. This model was refined in an unpublished technical report, where Petri nets with multiplicities, instead of {\em elementary} nets (i.e., nets with multiplicities zero and one only) were considered. In this note we expand this modelling to deal with {\em fuzzy} petri nets. The basic idea is to use as the dualizing object in the Dialectica categories construction, the unit interval that has all the properties of a {\em lineale} structure.
We introduce ω-Petri nets (ωPN), an extension of plain Petri nets with ω-labeled input and output arcs, that is well-suited to analyse parametric concurrent systems with dynamic thread creation. Most techniques (such as the Karp and Miller tree or the Rackoff technique) that have been proposed in the setting of plain Petri nets do not apply directly to ωPN because ωPN define transition systems that have infinite branching. This motivates a thorough analysis of the computational aspects of ωPN. We show that an ωPN can be turned into an plain Petri net that allows to recover the reachability set…
In a previous paper we introduced immediate observation Petri nets, a subclass of Petri nets with application domains in distributed protocols (population protocols) and theoretical chemistry (chemical reaction networks). IO nets enjoy many useful properties, but like the general case of conservative Petri nets they have a PSPACE-complete reachability problem. In this paper we explore two restrictions of the reachability problem for IO nets which lower the complexity of the problem drastically. The complexity is NP-complete for the first restriction with applications in distributed protocols, …
Developing algorithms for distributed systems is an error-prone task. Formal models like Petri nets with transits and Petri games can prevent errors when developing such algorithms. Petri nets with transits allow us to follow the data flow between components in a distributed system. They can be model checked against specifications in LTL on both the local data flow and the global behavior. Petri games allow the synthesis of local controllers for distributed systems from safety specifications. Modeling problems in these formalisms requires defining extended Petri nets which can be cumbersome wh…
This paper describes a stand-alone, no-frills tool supporting the analysis of (labelled) place/transition Petri nets and the synthesis of labelled transition systems into Petri nets. It is implemented as a collection of independent, dedicated algorithms which have been designed to operate modularly, portably, extensibly, and efficiently.
Hierarchical Petri nets allow a more abstract view and reconfigurable Petri nets model dynamic structural adaptation. In this contribution we present the combination of reconfigurable Petri nets and hierarchical Petri nets yielding hierarchical structure for reconfigurable Petri nets. Hierarchies are established by substituting transitions by subnets. These subnets are themselves reconfigurable, so they are supplied with their own set of rules. Moreover, global rules that can be applied in all of the net, are provided.
Nested Petri nets have been applied for modeling interaction protocols, mobility, adaptive systems and interorganizational workflows. However, few results have been reported on the use of automated tools for analyzing the behavior of these nets. In this paper we present a general translation from nested Petri nets into PROMELA and explain how some properties of these nets can be studied using SPIN model checker. Besides, we discuss how to deal with the main limitations that may influence SPIN performance when verifying practical examples.
Petri nets are a formalism for modelling and reasoning about the behaviour of distributed systems. Recently, a reversible approach to Petri nets, Reversing Petri Nets (RPN), has been proposed, allowing transitions to be reversed spontaneously in or out of causal order. In this work we propose an approach for controlling the reversal of actions of an RPN, by associating transitions with conditions whose satisfaction/violation allows the execution of transitions in the forward/reversed direction, respectively. We illustrate the framework with a model of a novel, distributed algorithm for antenna…
Compositionality and process equivalence are both standard concepts of process algebra. Compositionality means that the behaviour of a compound system relies only on the behaviour of its components, i.e. there is no emergent behaviour. Process equivalence means that the explicit statespace of a system takes a back seat to its interaction patterns: the information that an environment can obtain though interaction. Petri nets are a classical, yet widely used and understood, model of concurrency. Nevertheless, they have often been described as a non-compositional model, and tools tend to deal wit…
A Petri net is structurally cyclic if every configuration is reachable from itself in one or more steps. We show that structural cyclicity is decidable in deterministic polynomial time. For this, we adapt the Kosaraju's approach for the general reachability problem for Petri nets.
We provide an Ackermannian complexity lower bound for the reachability problem for checking programs, a model equivalent to Petri nets. Moreover in fixed dimension $2d+4$, we show that the problem is $\mathbb{F}_d$-hard. As a direct corollary, the reachability problem in dimension 10 is not elementary.
HSE University（俄罗斯国立高等经济大学）；Free University of Bozen-Bolzano（博尔扎诺自由大学）
Recently introduced Petri net-based formalisms advocate the importance of proper representation and management of case objects as well as their co-evolution. In this work we build on top of one of such formalisms and introduce the notion of soundness for it. We demonstrate that for nets with non-deterministic synchronization between case objects, the soundness problem is decidable.
We introduce stochastic decision Petri nets (SDPNs), which are a form of stochastic Petri nets equipped with rewards and a control mechanism via the deactivation of controllable transitions. Such nets can be translated into Markov decision processes (MDPs), potentially leading to a combinatorial explosion in the number of states due to concurrency. Hence we restrict ourselves to instances where nets are either safe, free-choice and acyclic nets (SAFC nets) or even occurrence nets and policies are defined by a constant deactivation pattern. We obtain complexity-theoretic results for such cases …
We associate a graph with a 1-safe Petri net and study the parameterized complexity of various problems with parameters derived from the graph. With treewidth as the parameter, we give W[1]-hardness results for many problems about 1-safe Petri nets. As a corollary, this proves a conjecture of Downey et. al. about the hardness of some graph pebbling problems. We consider the parameter benefit depth (that is known to be helpful in getting better algorithms for general Petri nets) and again give W[1]-hardness results for various problems on 1-safe Petri nets. We also consider the stronger paramet…
We consider timed Petri nets, i.e., unbounded Petri nets where each token carries a real-valued clock. Transition arcs are labeled with time intervals, which specify constraints on the ages of tokens. Our cost model assigns token storage costs per time unit to places, and firing costs to transitions. We study the cost to reach a given control-state. In general, a cost-optimal run may not exist. However,we show that the infimum of the costs is computable.
In recent work, the second and third authors introduced a technique for reachability checking in 1-bounded Petri nets, based on wiring decompositions, which are expressions in a fragment of the compositional algebra of nets with boundaries. Here we extend the technique to the full algebra and introduce the related structural property of decomposition width on directed hypergraphs. Small decomposition width is necessary for the applicability of the reachability checking algorithm. We give examples of families of nets with constant decomposition width and develop the underlying theory of decompo…
We study homology groups of elementary Petri nets for the pipeline systems. We show that the integral homology groups of these nets in dimensions 0 and 1 equal the group of integers, and they are zero in other dimensions. We prove that directed homology groups of elementary Petri nets are zero in all dimensions.
Solutions proposed for the longstanding problem of automatic decomposition of Petri nets into concurrent processes, as well as methods developed in Grenoble for the automatic conversion of safe Petri nets to NUPNs (Nested-Unit Petri Nets), require certain properties to be computed on Petri nets. We notice that, although these properties are theoretically interesting and practically useful, they are not currently implemented in mainstream Petri net tools. Taking into account such properties would open fruitful research directions for tool developers, and new perspectives for the Model Checking …
Bipolar synchronization systems (BP-systems) constitute a class of coloured Petri nets, well suited for modeling the control flow of discrete, dynamical systems. Every BP-system has an underlying ordinary Petri net, which is a T-system. Moreover, it has a second ordinary net attached, which is a free-choice system. We prove that a BP-system is live and safe if the T-system and the free-choice system are live and safe and if the free-choice system has no frozen tokens. This result is the converse of a theorem of Genrich and Thiagarajan and proves an elder conjecture. The proof compares the diff…
In a previous paper we introduced immediate observation (IO) Petri nets, a class of interest in the study of population protocols and enzymatic chemical networks. In the first part of this paper we show that IO nets are globally flat, and so their safety properties can be checked by efficient symbolic model checking tools using acceleration techniques, like FAST. In the second part we study Branching IO nets (BIO nets), whose transitions can create tokens. BIO nets extend both IO nets and communication-free nets, also called BPP nets, a widely studied class. We show that, while BIO nets are no…
Synthesis for a type $τ$ of Petri nets is the following search problem: For a transition system $A$, find a Petri net $N$ of type $τ$ whose state graph is isomorphic to $A$, if there is one. To determine the computational complexity of synthesis for types of bounded Petri nets we investigate their corresponding decision version, called feasibility. We show that feasibility is NP-complete for (pure) $b$-bounded P/T-nets if $b\in \mathbb{N}^+$. We extend (pure) $b$-bounded P/T-nets by the additive group $\mathbb{Z}_{b+1}$ of integers modulo $(b+1)$ and show feasibility to be NP-complete for the …
This paper addresses the problem of forbidden states of non safe Petri Net (PN) modelling discrete events systems. To prevent the forbidden states, it is possible to use conditions or predicates associated with transitions. Generally, there are many forbidden states, thus many complex conditions are associated with the transitions. A new idea for computing predicates in non safe Petri nets will be presented. Using this method, we can construct a maximally permissive controller if it exists.
To model check concurrent systems, it is convenient to distinguish between the data flow and the control. Correctness is specified on the level of data flow whereas the system is configured on the level of control. Petri nets with transits and Flow-LTL are a corresponding formalism. In Flow-LTL, both the correctness of the data flow and assumptions on fairness and maximality for the control are expressed in linear time. So far, branching behavior cannot be specified for Petri nets with transits. In this paper, we introduce Flow-CTL* to express the intended branching behavior of the data flow w…
The reachability semantics for Petri nets can be studied using open Petri nets. For us an "open" Petri net is one with certain places designated as inputs and outputs via a cospan of sets. We can compose open Petri nets by gluing the outputs of one to the inputs of another. Open Petri nets can be treated as morphisms of a category $\mathsf{Open}(\mathsf{Petri})$, which becomes symmetric monoidal under disjoint union. However, since the composite of open Petri nets is defined only up to isomorphism, it is better to treat them as morphisms of a symmetric monoidal double category $\mathbb{O}\math…
Recent work by the authors equips Petri occurrence nets (PN) with probability distributions which fully replace nondeterminism. To avoid the so-called confusion problem, the construction imposes additional causal dependencies which restrict choices within certain subnets called structural branching cells (s-cells). Bayesian nets (BN) are usually structured as partial orders where nodes define conditional probability distributions. In the paper, we unify the two structures in terms of Symmetric Monoidal Categories (SMC), so that we can apply to PN ordinary analysis techniques developed for BN. …
We introduce immediate observation Petri nets, a class of interest in the study of population protocols (a model of distributed computation), and enzymatic chemical networks. In these areas, relevant analysis questions translate into parameterized Petri net problems: whether an infinite set of Petri nets with the same underlying net, but different initial markings, satisfy a given property. We study the parameterized reachability, coverability, and liveness problems for immediate observation Petri nets. We show that all three problems are in PSPACE for infinite sets of initial markings defined…
SMPT (for Satisfiability Modulo Petri Net) is a model checker for reachability problems in Petri nets. It started as a portfolio of methods to experiment with symbolic model checking, and was designed to be easily extended. Some distinctive features are its ability to benefit from structural reductions and to generate verdict certificates. Our tool is quite mature and performed well compared to other state-of-the-art tools in the Model Checking Contest.
Petri nets are a mathematical language for modeling and reasoning about distributed systems. In this paper we propose an approach to Petri nets for embedding reversibility, i.e., the ability of reversing an executed sequence of operations at any point during operation. Specifically, we introduce machinery and associated semantics to support the three main forms of reversibility namely, backtracking, causal reversing, and out-of-causal-order reversing in a variation of cyclic Petri nets where tokens are persistent and are distinguished from each other by an identity. Our formalism is influenced…
The correctness of networks is often described in terms of the individual data flow of components instead of their global behavior. In software-defined networks, it is far more convenient to specify the correct behavior of packets than the global behavior of the entire network. Petri nets with transits extend Petri nets and Flow-LTL extends LTL such that the data flows of tokens can be tracked. We present the tool AdamMC as the first model checker for Petri nets with transits against Flow-LTL. We describe how AdamMC can automatically encode concurrent updates of software-defined networks as Pe…
