Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Tarraf, Mohamed, Chan, Alex, Yakovlev, Alex, Shafik, Rishad
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13128
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866914328483987456
author Tarraf, Mohamed
Chan, Alex
Yakovlev, Alex
Shafik, Rishad
author_facet Tarraf, Mohamed
Chan, Alex
Yakovlev, Alex
Shafik, Rishad
contents Binary Neural Networks (BNNs) offer a low-complexity and energy-efficient alternative to traditional full-precision neural networks by constraining their weights and activations to binary values. However, their discrete, highly non-linear behavior makes them difficult to explain, validate and formally verify. As a result, BNNs remain largely opaque, limiting their suitability in safety-critical domains, where causal transparency and behavioral guarantees are essential. In this work, we introduce a Petri net (PN)-based framework that captures the BNN's internal operations as event-driven processes. By "eventizing" their operations, we expose their causal relationships and dependencies for a fine-grained analysis of concurrency, ordering, and state evolution. Here, we construct modular PN blueprints for core BNN components including activation, gradient computation and weight updates, and compose them into a complete system-level model. We then validate the composed PN against a reference software-based BNN, verify it against reachability and structural checks to establish 1-safeness, deadlock-freeness, mutual exclusion and correct-by-construction causal sequencing, before we assess its scalability and complexity at segment, component, and system levels using the automated measurement tools in Workcraft. Overall, this framework enables causal introspection of transparent and event-driven BNNs that are amenable to formal reasoning and verification.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_13128
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Eventizing Traditionally Opaque Binary Neural Networks as 1-safe Petri net Models
Tarraf, Mohamed
Chan, Alex
Yakovlev, Alex
Shafik, Rishad
Machine Learning
Binary Neural Networks (BNNs) offer a low-complexity and energy-efficient alternative to traditional full-precision neural networks by constraining their weights and activations to binary values. However, their discrete, highly non-linear behavior makes them difficult to explain, validate and formally verify. As a result, BNNs remain largely opaque, limiting their suitability in safety-critical domains, where causal transparency and behavioral guarantees are essential. In this work, we introduce a Petri net (PN)-based framework that captures the BNN's internal operations as event-driven processes. By "eventizing" their operations, we expose their causal relationships and dependencies for a fine-grained analysis of concurrency, ordering, and state evolution. Here, we construct modular PN blueprints for core BNN components including activation, gradient computation and weight updates, and compose them into a complete system-level model. We then validate the composed PN against a reference software-based BNN, verify it against reachability and structural checks to establish 1-safeness, deadlock-freeness, mutual exclusion and correct-by-construction causal sequencing, before we assess its scalability and complexity at segment, component, and system levels using the automated measurement tools in Workcraft. Overall, this framework enables causal introspection of transparent and event-driven BNNs that are amenable to formal reasoning and verification.
title Eventizing Traditionally Opaque Binary Neural Networks as 1-safe Petri net Models
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13128