Formal Models for Embedded System Design

Marco Sgroi, Luciano Lavagno, Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli.

IEEE Design and Test of Computers, vol.17, (no. 2), IEEE, April-June 2000. p.14-17

Increased complexity and time-to-market pressure impose a change in design methodology for electronic systems.  Orthogonalization of concerns is the pillar of the new way of carrying out system design.  In particular, function-architecture and computation-communication are orthogonal dimensions along which it is possible to decompose the design problem. To take full advantage of these decompositions, formal models of the different aspects of system design must be used. Classical formal models such as data-flow networks and finite state machines do not cover the range of applications. For this reason, either heterogeneous compositions of these basic models or new models have to be used. In this paper, we present a formal model, Abstract Co-design Finite State Machines (ACFSM), and its refinements, Extended Co-design Finite State Machines (ECFSM) and Co-design Finite State Machines (CFSM) that have been developed to capture abstract behavior as well as the march towards implementation.  The design of communication protocols is presented as an example of the use of these formal models.