Optimizing performance of continuous-time stochastic systems using timeout synthesis

Abstract

We consider parametric version of fixed-delay continuoustime Markov chains (or equivalently deterministic and stochastic Petri nets, DSPN) where fixed-delay transitions are specified by parameters, rather than concrete values. Our goal is to synthesize values of these parameters that, for a given cost function, minimise expected total cost incurred before reaching a given set of target states. We show that under mild assumptions, optimal values of parameters can be effectively approximated using translation to a Markov decision process (MDP) whose actions correspond to discretized values of these parameters. To this end we identify and overcome several interesting phenomena arising in systems with fixed delays.