Towards Performance Evaluation in Process Algebras

A new bisimulation based semantics, called performance equivalence, is proposed for a finite process algebra. It equates systems whenever they perform the same actions in the same amount of time, thus introducing a simple form of performance evaluation in process algebras. A comparison with other equivalences is provided; in particular, we show that performance equivalence is strictly finer than step bisimulation equivalence and strictly coarser than partial ordering bisimulation equivalence.