Skip to main content

Problems, promises and performance: some questions for real-time system specification

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Real-Time: Theory in Practice (REX 1991)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 600))

Abstract

This paper considers how different views of real-time program specification and verification arise from different assumptions about the representation of time external to the program, the representation of time in the program and the verification of the timing properties on an implementation. Three different views are compared: real-time programming without time, the synchrony hypothesis and asynchronous real-time programs. Questions about the representation of time are then related to different models of time and their roles at different levels of analysis. The relationship between the development of a program from a specification and its timing characteristics in an implementation is discussed and it is suggested that the formal verification of timing properties can be extended towards the implementation. The need for fault-tolerance in a real-time system is then considered and ways examined of incorporating a formal proof of fault-tolerance along with proof of its timing properties.

supported by Research Grants GR/D/73881 & GR/F 57960 from the Science and Engineering Research Council.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. H. Barringer, R. Kuiper, and A. Pnueli. Now you may compose temporal logic specifications. In Proceedings of the 16th ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing, pages 51–63, Washington D.C., 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  2. A. Bernstein and P.K. Harter, Jr. Proving real-time properties of programs with temporal logic. In Proceedings of the 8th Annual ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, pages 1–11, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  3. G. Berry and L. Cosserat. The ESTEREL synchronous programming language and its mathematical semantics. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science 197, pages 389–449. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  4. E. Best. A theorem on the characteristics of non-sequential processes. Fundamenta Informaticae III.1, pages 77–94, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  5. F. Cristian. Understanding fault-tolerant distributed systems. IBM Research Report RJ 6980, April 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  6. J. Davis. Specification and Proof in Real-time Systems. PhD thesis, Programming Research Group, Oxford University Computing Laboratory, Oxford, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  7. P. le Guernic and A. Benveniste. Real-Time, Synchronous, Data-Flow Programming: The Language SIGNAL and its Mathematical Semantics. Technical Report 620, INRIA Rennes, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  8. D. Harel. Statecharts: A visual formalism for complex systems. Science of Computer Programming, 8(3):231–274, 1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. E.C.R. Hehner. Real-time programming. Information Processing Letters, 30:51–56, 1989.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. T. Henzinger and Z. Manna and A. Pnueli. What good are digital clocks?. Technical Report, Stanford University, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  11. C. Hewitt and H. Baker. Actors and continuous functionals. In E.J. Neuhold, editor, Formal Description of Programming Concepts, pages 367–390. North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  12. J. Hooman. Specification and Compositional Verification of Real-time Systems. PhD thesis, Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  13. M. Joseph and A.K. Goswami. What's real about real-time systems? Proc. RTSS88, Huntsville, Alabama, pages 78–85, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  14. B. Kirkerud. Hyperarithmetical Turing-machines. PhD thesis, Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo, Oslo, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  15. L. Lamport. TIMESETS: a new method for temporal reasoning about programs. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science 131, pages 177–196. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  16. G. le Lann. Critical issues for the development of distributed real-time computing systems. Technical Report 1274, INRIA, Rocquencourt, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Z. Liu and M. Joseph. Transformation of programs for fault-tolerance. Formal Aspects of Computing, (to appear).

    Google Scholar 

  18. C.L. Liu and J.W. Layland. Scheduling algorithms for multiprocessing in a hard real-time environment. Journal of the ACM, 20:46–61, 1973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. A. Moitra and M. Joseph. Implementing real-time systems by transformation. In H. Zedan, editor, Real-time Systems: Theory and Applications, pages 143–157. North-Holland, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  20. A. Moitra and M. Joseph. Determining timing properties of infinite real-time programs. Technical Report RR172, University of Warwick, Department of Computer Science, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  21. A.K. Mok. Fundamental design problems of distributed systems for the hard realtime environment. Technical Report MIT/LCS/TR-297, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  22. K. Ramamritham and J.A. Stankovic and P.F. Shiah. Efficient scheduling algorithms for real-time multiprocessor systems. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 1(2):184–194, 1990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. G.M. Reed and A.W. Roscoe. Metric spaces as models for real-time concurrency. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science 298, pages 331–343. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  24. W.-P. de Roever. Foundations of computer science: Leaving the ivory tower. Technical Report 9105, Institut für Informatik und Praktische Mathematik, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel, Kiel, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  25. M. Roncken and R. Gerth. A denotational semantics for synchronous and asynchronous behaviour with multiform time. In Proceedings of the International BCS-FACS Workshop on Semantics for Concurrency, pages 21–37. Springer-Verlag, London, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  26. W.M. Turski. Time considered irrelevant for real-time systems. BIT, 28:473–486, 1988.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  27. G.J. Whitrow. The Natural Philosophy of Time. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  28. N. Wirth. Towards a discipline of real-time programming. Communications of the ACM, 20(8):577–583, 1977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

J. W. de Bakker C. Huizing W. P. de Roever G. Rozenberg

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Joseph, M. (1992). Problems, promises and performance: some questions for real-time system specification. In: de Bakker, J.W., Huizing, C., de Roever, W.P., Rozenberg, G. (eds) Real-Time: Theory in Practice. REX 1991. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 600. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0031998

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0031998

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-55564-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47218-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics