A Model of Dynamic Systems

We introduce a model describing discrete dynamic distributed systems. These are systems where their set of connections to the systems in their context captured by their syntactic interfaces as well as the set of their subsystems, and their set of internal connections in their architectures between their subsystems change dynamically over time. To provide such a model we generalize the static system model of Focus (cf. [8]) in terms of their system interfaces and their interface behavior, their system architectures, and their system models in terms of state machines to model dynamic systems. We deal with concepts of causality, composition, abstraction, and system specification for dynamic systems. We analyze properties of dynamic systems and discuss how well the model captures general notions of system dynamics. Finally, we introduce the concept of system classes and their instantiation, which introduces an additional concept of dynamicity.