Modeling hierarchical and recursive structures using parametric Petri nets

In order to facilitate modeling of complex hierarchical and dynamically structured concurrent systems this paper proposes extending high-level Petri nets with parametric and dynamic net structures based on a Petri net component concept. It proceeds to show how to apply these techniques to non-trivial design problems while retaining generality and thus reusability of the resulting models. Furthermore, these structuring mechanisms facilitate the understanding of complex models and their component-based design as well as the application of modern software engineering concepts such as design patterns (Naedele and Janneck 1998) to Petri net based modeling.