research-article

Testing Finite-State Machines: State Identification and Verification

Authors:

M. YannakakisAuthors Info & Claims

IEEE Transactions on Computers, Volume 43, Issue 3

Pages 306 - 320

https://doi.org/10.1109/12.272431

Published: 01 March 1994 Publication History

Abstract

We study the complexity of two fundamental problems in the testing of finite-state machines. 1) Distinguishing sequences (state identification). We show that it is PSPACE-complete to determine whether a finite-state machine has a preset distinguishing sequence. There are machines that have distinguishing sequences, but only of exponential length. We give a polynomial time algorithm that determines whether a finite-state machine has an adaptive distinguishing sequence. (The previous classical algorithms take exponential time.) Furthermore, if there is an adaptive distinguishing sequence, then we give an efficient algorithm that constructs such a sequence of length at most n(n/spl minus/1)/2 (which is the best possible), where n is the number of states. 2) Unique input output sequences (state verification). It is PSPACE-complete to determine whether a state of a machine has a unique input output sequence. There are machines whose states have unique input output sequences but only of exponential length.

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Türker UHierons RBarlas GEl-Fakih K(2023)Incomplete Adaptive Distinguishing Sequences for Non-Deterministic FSMsIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2023.329113749:9(4371-4389)Online publication date: 5-Jul-2023
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Index Terms

Testing Finite-State Machines: State Identification and Verification
1. Theory of computation
  1. Formal languages and automata theory

Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

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cover image IEEE Transactions on Computers

IEEE Transactions on Computers Volume 43, Issue 3

March 1994

133 pages

ISSN:0018-9340

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Copyright © Copyright © 1994 IEEE. All Rights Reserved.

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IEEE Computer Society

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 March 1994

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Cited By

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Tvardovskii AYevtushenko N(2022)Adaptive Experiments for State Identification in Finite State Machines with TimeoutsMachines, Computations, and Universality10.1007/978-3-031-13502-6_12(172-188)Online publication date: 31-Aug-2022
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