On Bias in User-Centric Discrete-Event Systems

Paper in proceeding, 2026

User-centric discrete-event system are discrete-event systems with which multiple users interact, each through their own distinct events. Each user has specific goals that they want to achieve, represented by specific states of the discrete-event systems. In these kinds of systems, bias may be present, positive bias that allows some users to always achieve their goals irrespective of the other users, or negative bias that prevents some users from achieving their goals irrespective of what they do. This work shows how the existence of a strategy, a special type of supervisor computed according to the Ramadge & Wonham supervisory control theory, can with carefully chosen controllable events and marked states reveal bias, positive and negative, in a user-centric discrete-event system. This can then be a guiding factor in deciding whether to interact or not with a given user-centric discrete-event system.