Temporal logic and extended state machines in discrete-event control

Abstract

ESM/RTL is a framework for modelling, specifying and verifying real-time discrete event systems. Extended state machines (ESMs) are used to model the processes of the plant and the controller, and real-time temporal logic (RTL) is used as the assertion language for specifying required plant behaviour and verifying that the controller achieves the specification. A review of the framework is presented. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of current research to automate and modularize the framework.KeywordsDiscrete-event systemsReal-time temporal logicExtended state machinesVerification