Project Management Universitas Indonesia » Riset / Paper Mahasiswa » Behaviour Tree

For short information about B-Tree in Bahasa Indonesia, see Summary of Behavior Tree https://kode.poss.or.id/attachments/download/4167/Behavior_Tree.pdf _
_For more information and literatures see Wiki Page

The difficulty of applying formal methods, especially to large and complex systems, has, in the past, limited the use of formal methods mainly to small and specific critical applications or parts of systems. Several methods had been proposed in the area of program refinement such as Z, Raise, and B; and in the area of program verification with the support of theorem prover such as HOL and Coq. None of the proposed methods has been popularly being used by the software industry for general application.

The Behavior Tree Notation (BTN) is a formal notation for labeled transition systems that is intended to be applicable for specifying and analyzing large systems. However, because it is a relatively new notation with little tool support, the potential practical applicability of the notation for large systems is still unknown. We propose a comprehensive assessment of the applicability of the Behavior Tree Notation for large systems.

Comparisons with more established notations such as CSP and Z serve two purposes. First, they help us determine whether BTN has enough features lacking in other notations to warrant adoption, otherwise already established notations (with their tool support) are preferable. Second, if BTN is to be adopted, similarities between the other notations and BTN will help us identify tools and techniques from the other notations that can be adopted for BTN.

Background¶

The difficulty of applying formal methods, especially to large and complex systems, has, in the past, limited the use of formal methods mainly to small critical applications or parts of systems. The Behavior Tree Notation (BTN) is a formal notation for labeled transition systems that is intended to be applicable for specifying and analyzing large systems. However, because it is a relatively new notation with little tool support, the potential practical applicability of the notation for large systems is still unknown. Thus, a comprehensive assessment of the notation is needed.

The Behavior Tree Notation was jointly developed by the University of Queensland and Griffith University, based on a methodology that was originally developed by R.G. Dromey. The Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Indonesia (Fasilkom UI) already has formal ties with the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the University of Queensland (ITEE), including a linked bachelor's degree program in Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. Collaboration between Fasilkom UI and ITEE on research would further strengthen the ties.

Performing an assessment of the Behavior Tree Notation would help shape the research Directions at the Formal Methods in Software Engineering Laboratory (FMSE) at Fasilkom UI, as it would lead to further research projects. In addition, it will increase the research capabilities at FMSE.

Proposed Research¶

We propose a comprehensive assessment of the applicability of the Behavior Tree Notation for large systems. The assessment will include:

• investigation of the effectiveness and efficiency of BTN for
• formal specifications of large systems,
• investigation of the effectiveness and efficiency of BTN for
• formal analyses of large systems,
• comparisons with other notations such as CSP and Z,
• investigation of availability of tools and techniques, and
• investigation of needed tools.

Investigations of the effectiveness and efficiency of BTN will look closely at how BTN addresses important issues such as scalability, modularization and preventing combinatorial explosion.

Comparisons with more established notations such as CSP and Z serve two purposes. First, they help us determine whether BTN has enough features lacking in other notations to warrant adoption, otherwise already established notations (with their tool support) are preferable. Second, if BTN is to be adopted, similarities between the other notations and BTN will help us identify tools and techniques from the other notations that can be adopted for BTN.

Tools that are specifically designed for BTN are likely to have been developed in Australia by University of Queensland, Griffith University, and their government and industrial partners. However, there may also be tools for other notations that can be easily adapted for BTN.

Specifying and analyzing an example large system using BTN need to be performed for the assessment. The process will help us identify needed tools.