From Grafcet to Hybrid Automata

Abstract Grafcet is a language which is used for the specification of control systems. But Grafcet is less suited when validation and verification of the specification at hand is required. Therefore a translation of grafcet specifications into hybrid automata is proposed. This translation is a part of a framework which enables the verification of a hybrid system consisting of a discrete controller and a continuous process. Additional advantages of our approach are: i) a user can specify a system without being bothered by mathematical details of the underlying model suitable for verification, ii) the specification can be formally analyzed by means of existing tools and iii) the formal defined mapping of Grafcet on hybrid automata formalizes the interpretation of a grafcet. The approach taken is based upon the construction of a situation graph which serves as the underlying structure for the hybrid automaton in the translation of a grafcet in its equivalent hybrid automaton.