Under-approximate flowpipes for non-linear continuous systems

Abstract

We propose an approach for computing under- as well as over-approximations for the reachable sets of continuous systems which are defined by non-linear Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs). Given a compact and connected initial set of states, described by a system of polynomial inequalities, we compute under-approximations of the set of states reachable over time. Our approach is based on a simple yet elegant technique to obtain an accurate Taylor model over-approximation for a backward flowmap based on well-known techniques to over-approximate the forward map. Next, we show that this over-approximation can be used to yield both over- and under-approximations for the forward reachable sets. Based on the result, we are able to conclude "may" as well as "must" reachability to prove properties or conclude the existence of counterexamples. A prototype of the approach is implemented and its performance is evaluated over a reasonable number of benchmarks.