Robust Probabilistic Model Checking with Continuous Reward Domains

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Ji, Xiaotong, Wang, Hanchun, Filieri, Antonio, Epifani, Ilenia
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Ji, Xiaotong
Wang, Hanchun
Filieri, Antonio
Epifani, Ilenia
author_facet Ji, Xiaotong
Wang, Hanchun
Filieri, Antonio
Epifani, Ilenia
contents Probabilistic model checking traditionally verifies properties on the expected value of a measure of interest. This restriction may fail to capture the quality of service of a significant proportion of a system's runs, especially when the probability distribution of the measure of interest is poorly represented by its expected value due to heavy-tail behaviors or multiple modalities. Recent works inspired by distributional reinforcement learning use discrete histograms to approximate integer reward distribution, but they struggle with continuous reward space and present challenges in balancing accuracy and scalability. We propose a novel method for handling both continuous and discrete reward distributions in Discrete Time Markov Chains using moment matching with Erlang mixtures. By analytically deriving higher-order moments through Moment Generating Functions, our method approximates the reward distribution with theoretically bounded error while preserving the statistical properties of the true distribution. This detailed distributional insight enables the formulation and robust model checking of quality properties based on the entire reward distribution function, rather than restricting to its expected value. We include a theoretical foundation ensuring bounded approximation errors, along with an experimental evaluation demonstrating our method's accuracy and scalability in practical model-checking problems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_04530
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Robust Probabilistic Model Checking with Continuous Reward Domains
Ji, Xiaotong
Wang, Hanchun
Filieri, Antonio
Epifani, Ilenia
Artificial Intelligence
Formal Languages and Automata Theory
Machine Learning
Probabilistic model checking traditionally verifies properties on the expected value of a measure of interest. This restriction may fail to capture the quality of service of a significant proportion of a system's runs, especially when the probability distribution of the measure of interest is poorly represented by its expected value due to heavy-tail behaviors or multiple modalities. Recent works inspired by distributional reinforcement learning use discrete histograms to approximate integer reward distribution, but they struggle with continuous reward space and present challenges in balancing accuracy and scalability. We propose a novel method for handling both continuous and discrete reward distributions in Discrete Time Markov Chains using moment matching with Erlang mixtures. By analytically deriving higher-order moments through Moment Generating Functions, our method approximates the reward distribution with theoretically bounded error while preserving the statistical properties of the true distribution. This detailed distributional insight enables the formulation and robust model checking of quality properties based on the entire reward distribution function, rather than restricting to its expected value. We include a theoretical foundation ensuring bounded approximation errors, along with an experimental evaluation demonstrating our method's accuracy and scalability in practical model-checking problems.
title Robust Probabilistic Model Checking with Continuous Reward Domains
topic Artificial Intelligence
Formal Languages and Automata Theory
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04530