Two formal methods for the synthesis of discrete event systems

Abstract

The design of discrete event systems (DES) is based mainly on either analysis or synthesis approaches. In the synthesis approach, the design process starts from high level requirements which are then automatically refined to obtain lower abstraction levels. In this paper, we begin by introducing the two design approaches and defining the synthesis problem in DESs, and in protocols in particular. Then, we survey and assess some existing protocol synthesis methods. Then, we present two novel formal and systematic methods we have developed for the synthesis of DESs. The first method is used for the design of distributed systems which must satisfy some temporal constraints. The second method takes into account concepts such as controllability and observability, which are used in the control theory of DESs. Finally, we conclude and propose some future works.