A comparison of temporal Petri net techniques in the specification and design of hard real-time systems

Abstract This paper assesses the suitability of two techniques, based on Petri nets and temporal logic, for the specification, design and verification of a real-time industrial control system that forms part of a high speed packaging machine. It presents a brief overview of Petri nets and temporal logic and describes how the strengths of both techniques are captured in the combined formalism of temporal Petri nets. The paper discusses the advantages of using temporal Petri nets and an extended form of temporal Petri nets in specification and design. These techniques are applied to the specification and design of control and synchronisation logic for a flexible manufacturing system comprising loosely coupled asynchronous mechanisms. It is shown that the problem can be specified elegantly using Petri nets, the verification of the specification can be completely carried out using temporal logic, and the specification can be evolved into a design in such a manner that the design inherits the specified properties.