ECE Seminar Series
Title: Correct-by-Construction Synthesis of Cyber-Physical Systems
Speaker: Majid Zamani
Affiliation: Department of Computer Science, CU Boulder
Day: Wednesday April 3,2024
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location: LSC Room 396 (Virginia Dale)
Abstract: Correct-by-construction synthesis emerges as a pivotal approach at the convergence of formal methods and control theory, especially in the domain of designing safety-critical systems. Departing from the traditional, yet laborious (re)design-verify-validate loop, the correct-by-construction methodology advocates for the iterative refinement of formal requirements, interconnected by chains of formal proofs. This strategy facilitates the development of systems inherently embodying correctness in their design. In the past two decades, significant progress has been achieved in broadening the scope of correct-by-construction synthesis, particularly focusing on cyber-physical systems that integrate discrete-event control with continuous-space environments. This expansion is realized through the fusion of symbolic techniques with systematic state-space reduction methods, thereby enhancing the applicability of correct-by-construction synthesis to large-scale control systems. This talk aims to highlight the recent strides we have made, which serve as building blocks for establishing a solid foundation for the correct-by-construction synthesis of cyber-physical systems.
Bio: Majid Zamani is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at University of Colorado Boulder. Between May 2014 and January 2019, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Technical University of Munich where he led the Hybrid Control Systems Group. He received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and an MA degree in Mathematics both from University of California, Los Angeles in 2012, an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2007, and a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology in 2005. He received the George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society in 2023, the NSF Career award in 2022 and ERC starting grant and ERC Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Council in 2018 and 2023, respectively. His research interests include verification and control of cyber-physical systems, secure-by-construction synthesis, and compositional analysis and synthesis of interconnected systems.