The ProCoS Approach to Correct Systems

  • Authors:
  • Hans Langmaack

  • Affiliations:
  • Institut für Informatik und Praktische Mathematik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Preusserstr. 1-9, D-24105 Kiel, Germany

  • Venue:
  • Real-Time Systems - Special issue on safety-critical systems
  • Year:
  • 1997

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Abstract

PorCoS is the name of the ESPRIT project“Provably Correct Systems”. A system is seen as a technologicalsystem with embedded controlling processors, sensors, actuators,connecting channels and timers in a physical environment, especiallya real-time or hybrid system with digital and continuous components.The goal of PorCoS is to contribute to mathematicalfoundation for analysis and synthesis and to mathematical principles,techniques and tools for systematic and correct design and constructionof systems, especially in safety-critical applications. Thearticle discusses the notion of system correctness and explainsits non-absolute nature. Two forerunners of ProCoSare described, the so-called stack of Computational Logic Inc.,Austin, Texas, and the three views of concurrent processes –nets, terms and formulas – of E.-R. Olderog. ProCoSis going beyond the forerunners and has extended the descriptionlevels: Requirements and systems architectural language, specificationlanguage, high-level programming language, machine language,hardware description language and description language for asynchronuouscircuits. A major achievement of ProCoS is to haverelated the semantic models of several different system developmentlevels and to have shown up how to mathematically prove correctthe transitions between these levels w.r.t. the semantic relations.The Duration Calculus gives a basis for semantics and verificationand crosses the boundary between discrete and continuous models.The lecture has been given at the Dagstuhl-Seminar“High Integrity Programmable Electronic Systems”, 27. 02. -03. 03. 95, organized by W. J. Cullyer, W. A. Halang and B. J.Krämer.