Controller Synthesis with Budget Constraints

Krishnendu Chatterjee, Rupak Majumdar, Thomas A. Henzinger

Abstract: We study the controller synthesis problem under budget constraints. In this problem, there is a cost associated with making an observation, and a controller can make only a limited number of observations in each round so that the total cost of the observations does not exceed a given fixed budget. The controller must ensure some ω-regular requirement subject to the budget constraint. Budget constraints arise in designing and implementing controllers for resource-constrained embedded systems, where a controller may not have enough power, time, or bandwidth to obtain data from all sensors in each round. They lead to games of imperfect information, where the unknown information is not fixed a priori, but can vary from round to round, based on the choices made by the controller how to allocate its budget.