The importance of formal methods in software engineering has been receiving greater acknowledgement. These methods can be used at several stages of the software development process. This book focuses on a method concerning the early stages of design, namely the modeling of a system at conceptual level, and the verification and validation of this model. The mathematical formalism used for modeling and verifying systems is the synchronized product of transition systems. The book introduces this notion and presents several examples of modeling and verification covering various domains: games, industrial processes, communication protocols, etc. These examples are worked out using the "Mec" software tool. This book is also intended to be an introduction to this tool which is described in full detail.

The importance of formal methods in software engineering has been receiving greater acknowledgement. These methods can be used at several stages of the software development process. This book focuses on a method concerning the early stages of design, namely the modeling of a system at conceptual level, and the verification and validation of this model.The mathematical formalism used for modeling and verifying systems is the synchronized product of transition systems. The book introduces this notion and presents several examples of modeling and verification covering various domains: games, industrial processes, communication protocols, etc.These examples are worked out using the “Mec” software tool. This book is also intended to be an introduction to this tool which is described in full detail.

This title is devoted to presenting some of the most important concepts and techniques for describing real-time systems and analyzing their behavior in order to enable the designer to achieve guarantees of temporal correctness. Topics addressed include mathematical models of real-time systems and associated formal verification techniques such as model checking, probabilistic modeling and verification, programming and description languages, and validation approaches based on testing. With contributions from authors who are experts in their respective fields, this will provide the reader with the state of the art in formal verification of real-time systems and an overview of available software tools.

Content Description #Includes bibliographical references and index.

This Festschrift, dedicated to Frits W. Vaandrager on the occasion of his 60th birthday, contains papers written by many of his closest collaborators. Frits has been a Professor of Informatics for Technical Applications at Radboud University Nijmegen since 1995, where his research focuses on formal methods, concurrency theory, verification, model checking, and automata learning. The volume contains contributions of colleagues, Ph.D. students, and researchers with whom Frits has collaborated and inspired, reflecting a wide spectrum of scientific interests, and demonstrating successful work at the highest levels of both theory and practice.

It was with great pleasure that, on behalf of the entire organizing committee, I welcomed participants to EDCC-4, the Fourth European Dependable Computing Conference, held for the ?rst time in France. The fourth issue of EDCC carried on the traditions established bythe previous conferences in this series: EDCC-1 was held in Berlin (Germany) in October 1994, EDCC-2 in Taormina (Italy) in October 1996, and EDCC-3 in Prague (Czech Republic) in September 1999. EDCC evolved from a merger of tow other conference series at the moment when the Iron Curtain fell. One of these, known as the ”International Conf- ence on Fault-Tolerant Computing Systems”, was organized during the period 1982–1991, bythe German Technical Interest Group ”Fault-Tolerant Computing Systems”. The other series, known as the ”International Conference on Fault- Tolerant Systems and Diagnostics”, was organized during the period 1975–1990 in the former Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, and the former GDR. The c- position of the EDCC steering committee and the organizing committees of the successive issues of the conference have mirrored the East–West uni?cation ch- acter of the conference series. The EDCC conference is becoming a unique meeting point for researchers and practitioners from all over the world in the ?eld of Dependable Systems. It is organized bythe SEE Working Group ”Dependable Computing” in France, the GI/ITG/GMA Technical Committee on Dependabilityand Fault Tolerance in Germany, and the AICA Working Group ”Dependability of Computer Systems” in Italy. Furthermore, committees of several global professional organizations, such as IEEE and IFIP, support the conference.

The need for flexibility and globalization forces enterprises to decentralize their activities and continuously (re)structure their networks of relationships regarding both their productive "supply chains" and their design and innovation processes. The goal of the ArtDeco project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research under the FIRB program (funding for basic research), has been to address these issues by proposing solutions from three main perspectives: the organizational perspective aimed at studying how companies work in a network and how their design processes can benefit from collaboration with other companies; the informational perspective focusing on how to acquire relevant knowledge from unstructured information and processes and on how to organize and manage such knowledge; and the infrastructural perspective focusing on understanding how self-adaptive workflows and software systems can help in supporting the dynamic interconnection of enterprises. The book contains a collection of papers offering an overview of the main results produced by the ArtDeco project. It has been structured into the following four main parts: organizational issues: methodologies, empirical contexts and policies; software methodologies and technologies; knowledge elicitation and management; and management of peripheral devices. It also includes a case study used throughout the book as a reference example.

This book collects the research work of leading-edge researchers and practitioners in the areas of analysis, synthesis, design and implementation of real-time systems with applications in various industrial fields. Their works are grouped into six parts, together encompassing twenty chapters. Each part is devoted to a mainstream subject, the chapters therein developing one of the major aspects of real-time system theory, modeling, design, and practical applications. Starting with a general approach in the area of formalization of real-time systems, and setting the foundations for a general systemic theory of those systems, the book covers everything from building modeling frameworks for various types of real-time systems, to verification, and synthesis. Other parts of the book deal with subjects related to tools and applications of these systems. A special part is dedicated to languages used for their modeling and design. The applications presented in the book reveal precious insights into practitioners' secrets.

Modern manufacturing systems involve many processes and operations at various hierarchical levels of decision, control and execution. New applications for systems are arising from the synergy of machines, tools, robots and computers with management and information technologies. Novel systems are designed and put into operation to manufacture old and new high-quality products with speed, accuracy and economy. This book contains over thirty papers that examine state-of-the-art and how-to-do issues, as well as new solutions. Topics covered include: Process planning/scheduling and machine-cell design Process monitoring, inspection, diagnosis and maintenance Forecasting, optimization and control Design and control of robotic automated crane systems Applications: including laser material processing, stereolithography systems, alimentary pasta processes and automated/robotic road construction and maintenance. The book explores key elements and critical factors, presents new results and tools that are applicable to real situations.

Our understanding of real-time systems is rapidly approaching a level of maturity which calls for a consolidation of our present knowledge and experience. Particularly effective in influencing our understanding has been the conjoining of universal algebra with the theory and practice of real-time system development. This interplay between algebraic methodology and software technology (AMAST) for real-time systems is the theme for this text.Each chapter, derived from papers presented at the all-invitation 1st AMAST International Workshop on Real-Time Systems (Iowa, 1993), is written by leaders in their field. The chapters form an intriguing mix of modeling, specification, verification, and implementation of “real” real-time systems. They cover untimed and timed systems, sequential, concurrent and embedded real-time processes, integrated models using state machines, temporal logic and algebraic data models, real-time CSP, verification tools, system design using temporal logic, symbolic checking of discrete time models, iterative symbolic approximation in timing verification and verification of audio protocols, timed full LOTOS and timed LOTOS extensions, LOTOS specification of telephone services and flight warning computers, and performance analysis.