Synthesis with rational environments

Synthesis is the automated construction of a system from its specification. The system has to satisfy its specification in all possible environments. The environment often consists of agents that have objectives of their own. Thus, it makes sense to soften the universal quantification on the behavio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kupferman, O, Perelli, G, Vardi, M
Format: Journal article
Published: Springer Verlag 2016
_version_ 1797096484601069568
author Kupferman, O
Perelli, G
Vardi, M
author_facet Kupferman, O
Perelli, G
Vardi, M
author_sort Kupferman, O
collection OXFORD
description Synthesis is the automated construction of a system from its specification. The system has to satisfy its specification in all possible environments. The environment often consists of agents that have objectives of their own. Thus, it makes sense to soften the universal quantification on the behavior of the environment and take the objectives of its underlying agents into an account. Fisman et al. introduced rational synthesis: the problem of synthesis in the context of rational agents. The input to the problem consists of temporal logic formulas specifying the objectives of the system and the agents that constitute the environment, and a solution concept (e.g., Nash equilibrium). The output is a profile of strategies, for the system and the agents, such that the objective of the system is satisfied in the computation that is the outcome of the strategies, and the profile is stable according to the solution concept; that is, the agents that constitute the environment have no incentive to deviate from the strategies suggested to them. In this paper we continue to study rational synthesis. First, we suggest an alternative definition to rational synthesis, in which the agents are rational but not cooperative. We call such problem strong rational synthesis. In the strong rational synthesis setting, one cannot assume that the agents that constitute the environment take into account the strategies suggested to them. Accordingly, the output is a strategy for the system only, and the objective of the system has to be satisfied in all the compositions that are the outcome of a stable profile in which the system follows this strategy. We show that strong rational synthesis is 2ExpTime-complete, thus it is not more complex than traditional synthesis or rational synthesis. Second, we study a richer specification formalism, where the objectives of the system and the agents are not Boolean but quantitative. In this setting, the objective of the system and the agents is to maximize their outcome. The quantitative setting significantly extends the scope of rational synthesis, making the game-theoretic approach much more relevant. Finally, we enrich the setting to one that allows coalitions of agents that constitute the system or the environment.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T04:42:30Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:d220107a-a4d6-42e0-afa9-e72a745141ab
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-07T04:42:30Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Springer Verlag
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:d220107a-a4d6-42e0-afa9-e72a745141ab2022-03-27T08:01:39ZSynthesis with rational environmentsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:d220107a-a4d6-42e0-afa9-e72a745141abSymplectic Elements at OxfordSpringer Verlag2016Kupferman, OPerelli, GVardi, MSynthesis is the automated construction of a system from its specification. The system has to satisfy its specification in all possible environments. The environment often consists of agents that have objectives of their own. Thus, it makes sense to soften the universal quantification on the behavior of the environment and take the objectives of its underlying agents into an account. Fisman et al. introduced rational synthesis: the problem of synthesis in the context of rational agents. The input to the problem consists of temporal logic formulas specifying the objectives of the system and the agents that constitute the environment, and a solution concept (e.g., Nash equilibrium). The output is a profile of strategies, for the system and the agents, such that the objective of the system is satisfied in the computation that is the outcome of the strategies, and the profile is stable according to the solution concept; that is, the agents that constitute the environment have no incentive to deviate from the strategies suggested to them. In this paper we continue to study rational synthesis. First, we suggest an alternative definition to rational synthesis, in which the agents are rational but not cooperative. We call such problem strong rational synthesis. In the strong rational synthesis setting, one cannot assume that the agents that constitute the environment take into account the strategies suggested to them. Accordingly, the output is a strategy for the system only, and the objective of the system has to be satisfied in all the compositions that are the outcome of a stable profile in which the system follows this strategy. We show that strong rational synthesis is 2ExpTime-complete, thus it is not more complex than traditional synthesis or rational synthesis. Second, we study a richer specification formalism, where the objectives of the system and the agents are not Boolean but quantitative. In this setting, the objective of the system and the agents is to maximize their outcome. The quantitative setting significantly extends the scope of rational synthesis, making the game-theoretic approach much more relevant. Finally, we enrich the setting to one that allows coalitions of agents that constitute the system or the environment.
spellingShingle Kupferman, O
Perelli, G
Vardi, M
Synthesis with rational environments
title Synthesis with rational environments
title_full Synthesis with rational environments
title_fullStr Synthesis with rational environments
title_full_unstemmed Synthesis with rational environments
title_short Synthesis with rational environments
title_sort synthesis with rational environments
work_keys_str_mv AT kupfermano synthesiswithrationalenvironments
AT perellig synthesiswithrationalenvironments
AT vardim synthesiswithrationalenvironments