An algebraic approach to energy problems II - the algebra of energy functions

Abstract

Energy and resource management problems are important in areas such as embedded systems or autonomous systems. They are concerned with the question whether a given system admits infinite schedules during which certain tasks can be repeatedly accomplished and the system never runs out of energy (or other resources). In order to develop a general theory of energy problems, we introduce energy automata: finite automata whose transitions are labeled with energy functions which specify how energy values change from one system state to another. We show that energy functions form a *-continuous Kleene ω-algebra, as an application of a general result that finitely additive, locally *-closed and T-continuous functions on complete lattices form *-continuous Kleene ω-algebras. This permits to solve energy problems in energy automata in a generic, algebraic way. In order to put our work in context, we also review extensions of energy problems to higher dimensions and to games.