A timeband framework for modelling real-time systems

Complex real-time systems must integrate physical processes with digital control, human operation and organisational structures. New scientific foundations are required for specifying, designing and implementing these systems. One key challenge is to cope with the wide range of time scales and dynamics inherent in such systems. To exploit the unique properties of time, with the aim of producing more dependable computer-based systems, it is desirable to explicitly identify distinct time bands in which the system is situated. Such a framework enables the temporal properties and associated dynamic behaviour of existing systems to be described and the requirements for new or modified systems to be specified. A system model based on a finite set of distinct time bands is motivated and developed in this paper.

[1]  Cliff B. Jones,et al.  Deriving Specifications for Systems That Are Connected to the Physical World , 2007, Formal Methods and Hybrid Real-Time Systems.

[2]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  The Sciences of the Artificial - 3rd Edition , 1981 .

[3]  Erik Hollnagel,et al.  Human Reliability Analysis: Context and Control , 1994 .

[4]  Curtis E. Dyreson,et al.  A Glossary of Time Granularity Concepts , 1997, Temporal Databases, Dagstuhl.

[5]  Jim Woodcock,et al.  Formal Methods and Hybrid Real-Time Systems, Essays in Honor of Dines Bjørner and Chaochen Zhou on the Occasion of Their 70th Birthdays, Papers presented at a Symposium held in Macao, China, September 24-25, 2007 , 2007, Formal Methods and Hybrid Real-Time Systems.

[6]  S. Hutchesson,et al.  Technology transfer and certification issues in safety critical real time systems , 1998 .

[7]  Jifeng He,et al.  Towards a Time Model for Circus , 2002, ICFEM.

[8]  Nils J. Nilsson,et al.  Teleo-Reactive Programs for Agent Control , 1993, J. Artif. Intell. Res..

[9]  J. Michael Spivey,et al.  The Z notation - a reference manual , 1992, Prentice Hall International Series in Computer Science.

[10]  Aloysius K. Mok,et al.  Safety analysis of timing properties in real-time systems , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[11]  Peter H. Welch,et al.  Process Oriented Design for Java: Concurrency for All , 2002, International Conference on Computational Science.

[12]  Mathai Joseph,et al.  Real-time systems - specification, verification and analysis , 1995, Prentice Hall International series in computer science.

[13]  Nils J. Nilsson,et al.  Teleo-Reactive Programs and the Triple-Tower Architecture , 2001, Electron. Trans. Artif. Intell..

[14]  Manfred Broy,et al.  Relating Time and Causality in Interactive Distributed Systems , 2010, European Review.

[15]  Ben C. Moszkowski,et al.  Executing temporal logic programs , 1986, Seminar on Concurrency.

[16]  Leslie Lamport,et al.  Time, clocks, and the ordering of events in a distributed system , 1978, CACM.

[17]  Angelo Montanari,et al.  Embedding time granularity in logical specifications of real-time systems , 1991, Proceedings. EUROMICRO `91 Workshop on Real-Time Systems.

[18]  Massimo Franceschet,et al.  Representing and Reasoning about Temporal Granularities , 2004, J. Log. Comput..

[19]  William J. Friedman.  About Time : Inventing the Fourth Dimension , 1990 .

[20]  Ian J. Hayes,et al.  Specification case studies , 1987 .

[21]  Alan Burns,et al.  A Framework for Building Dependable Systems , 1991, Computer/law journal.

[22]  R. Levine,et al.  A Geography Of Time , 1997 .

[23]  W. Starbuck,et al.  Organization at the Limit , 2005 .

[24]  Angelo Montanari,et al.  Temporalized logics and automata for time granularity , 2003, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming.

[25]  Alan Burns,et al.  Time bands in systems structure , 2006 .

[26]  G. Baxter,et al.  Modelling Temporal Behaviour in Complex Socio-Technical Systems , 2005 .

[27]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  The Sciences of the Artificial , 1970 .

[28]  James Clifford,et al.  A Simple, General Structure for Temporal Domains , 1986, Temporal Aspects in Information Systems.

[29]  Jim Woodcock,et al.  Unifying theories in ProofPower-Z , 2006, Formal Aspects of Computing.

[30]  Michael R. Hansen,et al.  Chopping a point , 1996 .

[31]  Jim Woodcock,et al.  A UTP semantics for Circus , 2009, Formal Aspects of Computing.

[32]  Alan Burns,et al.  EVALUATING TIMEBANDS AS A TOOL FOR STRUCTURING THE DESIGN OF SOCIO-TECHNICAL SYSTEMS , 2007 .

[33]  Jon E. Roeckelein.  The Concept of Time in Psychology: A Resource Book and Annotated Bibliography , 2000 .

[34]  Roderick Grenville White,et al.  Capturing the temporal properties of complex systems : an evaluation of the timebands approach , 2009 .

[35]  P. Fraisse.  The psychology of time , 1963 .

[36]  Zohar Manna,et al.  A Hardware Semantics Based on Temporal Intervals , 1983, ICALP.

[37]  Benjamin Charles Moszkowski.  Reasoning about Digital Circuits , 1983 .

[38]  Augusto Sampaio,et al.  A Refinement Strategy for Circus , 2003, Formal Aspects of Computing.

[39]  Angelo Montanari,et al.  Embedding Time Granularity in a Logical Specification Language for Synchronous Real-Time Systems , 1993, Sci. Comput. Program..

[40]  Cristina Nita-Rotaru,et al.  A survey of attack and defense techniques for reputation systems , 2009, CSUR.

[41]  C. A. R. Hoare,et al.  A Calculus of Durations , 1991, Inf. Process. Lett..

[42]  Angelo Montanari,et al.  Dealing with different time granularities in formal specifications of real-time systems , 1991, Real-Time Systems.

[43]  A. Newell.  Unified Theories of Cognition , 1990 .

[44]  M. Bergadaà,et al.  Temporal Frameworks and Individual Cultural Activities , 2007 .

[45]  B. Nebel.  Introduction to Modal Logic Introduction , 2009 .

[46]  Ian J. Hayes,et al.  A Case-Study in Timed Refinement: A Mine Pump , 1992, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[47]  James F. Allen.  Towards a General Theory of Action and Time , 1984, Artif. Intell..

[48]  Sophie Leroy,et al.  Coping with temporal uncertainty: When rigid, ambitious deadlines don’t make sense , 2005 .

[49]  J. Davenport.  Editor , 1960 .

[50]  Walter Schneider,et al.  Training High-Performance Skills: Fallacies and Guidelines , 1985 .

[51]  Jim Woodcock,et al.  The Semantics of Circus , 2002, ZB.

[52]  Dino Mandrioli,et al.  Modeling time in computing: A taxonomy and a comparative survey , 2008, CSUR.

[53]  Max J. Cresswell,et al.  A New Introduction to Modal Logic , 1998 .

[54]  Ana Cavalcanti,et al.  Automatic Translation from Circus to Java , 2006, FM.