English

Evolution-Based Timed Opacity under a Universal Observation Model

Formal Languages and Automata Theory 2026-03-30 v1 Cryptography and Security

Abstract

Existing literature on timed opacity uses specific definitions for restricted subclasses of timed automata or limited observation models. This lack of a unified definition makes it difficult to establish formal relationships and compare the expressiveness of different opacity variants. This paper establishes a unified framework for timed opacity by introducing a universal observation model for timed automata. First, we introduce an observation model with full observation of time delay and partial observation of locations, clocks, and events. Second, based on this model, we define the notion of evolution-based timed opacity. Third, we mathematically prove that evolution-based timed opacity strictly implies language-based timed opacity and establish a formal equivalence with execution-time opacity under constrained observations. This framework establishes a unified semantic hierarchy for characterizing the landscape of timed opacity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.26573,
  title  = {Evolution-Based Timed Opacity under a Universal Observation Model},
  author = {Zhe Zhang and Martijn Goorden and Michel Reniers},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.26573},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 pages, 5 figures, extended version of a paper submitted to the 65th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC 2026)