Systems and methods for explaining operational changes in terms of design variables in control code for cyber-physical systems

A system for determining a cause of deviation from expected operation of a cyber-physical system, comprising:

• a braking system including a plurality of lights;
• and
• a processor in operable connection to the plurality of lights of the braking system that activate one or more of the plurality of lights to display a braking decision, the processor being in communication with a memory, the memory including instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• receive, at the processor, a set of input-output data, the set of input-output data being resultant of operation of the braking system, the set of input-output data including speed and brake signals as inputs, and a light status as an output comprising time-stamped samples acquired during operation of the braking system;
• estimate, at the processor and using the set of input-output data, a mined hybrid system representation descriptive of the braking system including a set of estimated braking modes and a set of estimated mode transition conditions comprising conditions on the input-output data of the braking system;
• receive, at the processor, a set of machine-readable instructions that control operation of the braking system;
• generate, using the set of machine-readable instructions, an abstract syntax tree, the abstract syntax tree being descriptive of an extracted state machine representation of the braking system including a set of extracted modes and a set of extracted mode transition conditions of the braking system and including a plurality of paths each extending from a root node and including one or more conditional nodes and one or more resulting nodes, each conditional node of the one or more conditional nodes being associated with an input argument, the one or more resulting nodes including (i) a response function call node associated with a conditional node of the one or more conditional nodes and causing the braking system to implement an operational mode of the set of operational modes based on a value of the input argument associated with the conditional node and (ii) an output variable assignment node associated with a conditional node of the one or more conditional nodes;
• compare the mined hybrid system representation with the extracted state machine representation;
• and
• identify a discrepancy between the mined hybrid system representation and the extracted state machine representation, wherein identifying the discrepancy comprises:
• grouping one or more response function call nodes within each unique path of the plurality of paths of the abstract syntax tree into the set of extracted modes;
• grouping one or more conditional nodes within each unique path of the plurality of paths of the abstract syntax tree into the set of extracted mode transition conditions;
• determining that a first estimated braking mode of the set of estimated braking modes or a first estimated mode transition condition of the set of estimated mode transition conditions lacks a corresponding extracted mode or extracted mode transition condition obtained from the abstract syntax tree;
• and
• associating the discrepancy with at least one conditional node and at least one response function call node of a respective path of the abstract syntax tree, the discrepancy being indicative of a vulnerability in braking control code of the braking system.