A.T. Hofkamp

Nonconflict check by using sequential automaton abstractions based on weak observation equivalence

In Ramadge-Wonham supervisory control theory we often need to check nonconflict of plants and corresponding synthesized supervisors. For a large system such a check imposes a great computational challenge because of the complexity incurred by the composition of plants and supervisors. In this paper we present a novel procedure based on automaton abstractions, which removes internal transitions of relevant automata at each step, allowing the nonconflict check to be performed on relatively small automata, even though the original product system can be fairly large.

CIF 3 : model-based engineering of supervisory controllers

The engineering of supervisory controllers for large and complex cyber-physical systems requires dedicated engineering support. The Compositional Interchange Format language and toolset have been developed for this purpose. We highlight a model-based engineering framework for the engineering of supervisory controllers and explain how the CIF language and accompanying tools can be used for typical activities in that framework such as modeling, supervisory control synthesis, simulation-based validation, verification, and visualization, real-time testing, and code generation. We mention a number of case studies for which this approach was used in the recent past. We discuss future developments on the level of language and tools as well as research results that may be integrated in the longer term.

Coordination specification of the analytical target cascading process using the Chi language

Optimal design problems of large-scale and complex engineering systems are typically decomposed into a number of smaller and tractable subproblems. Analytical target cascading (ATC) is a methodology for translating overall system design targets to individual specifications for the subsystems and components that make up the system based on a hierarchical partition. We propose to use the χ language and software tools to specify and implement the coordination of the analytical target cascading process. ATC is implemented as parallel processes that exchange data via channels, which represent the links between the subproblems. The process specifications define how individual processes communicatewith other coupled processes. We show the advantages of χ for coordinating the ATC process by means of an illustrative example, and demonstrate that different coordination strategies can be implemented and evaluated efficiently.

Formally specified type checkers for domain specific languages: experience report

An important part of the usability of a programming or specification language lies in the presence of supporting tools that are provided with the language, e.g., type checkers, debuggers and simulators. Development of such tools for domain-specific languages imposes a number of specific evolvability requirements. Our contribution is twofold: First, we present an MSOS-based approach to automatic generation of formally specified type checkers for domain-specific languages. Second, we report on the application of our approach to Chi, a high level specification language for describing concurrent systems. The resulting type checker has been successfully integrated in the tool chain of the Chi language.