Rayna Dimitrova

University of Leicester, Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, Max Planck Society

Papers

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About

Rayna Dimitrova is a researcher specializing in formal methods, reactive controller synthesis, and temporal logic, with a particular focus on partial-information systems and robotic applications. Her work addresses fundamental challenges in automating the design of robust control protocols—especially in scenarios where complete environmental knowledge is unavailable, a limitation that has historically constrained real-world applicability of formal synthesis methods. Among her most significant contributions is a novel framework for surveillance strategy synthesis, which tackles the complex problem of enabling a robot to continuously track the location of a moving, potentially adversarial target under partial observability. Formulated as a one-sided partial-information game using belief abstraction, this work has garnered 26 citations and represents a meaningful advance in combining game-theoretic reasoning with autonomous robotics. Her earlier work on sensor design in reactive controller synthesis (2014) similarly confronted the unrealistic assumption of full environmental observability that pervaded prior research. Dimitrova has also contributed to probabilistic temporal logic through deductive verification approaches and explored maximum realizability for Linear Temporal Logic specifications. Her body of work reflects a consistent drive to make formal synthesis methods more practical and deployable, making her research highly relevant to students and practitioners working at the intersection of formal verification, robotics, and control theory.