4,483 research outputs found
Extending the Real-Time Maude Semantics of Ptolemy to Hierarchical DE Models
This paper extends our Real-Time Maude formalization of the semantics of flat
Ptolemy II discrete-event (DE) models to hierarchical models, including modal
models. This is a challenging task that requires combining synchronous
fixed-point computations with hierarchical structure. The synthesis of a
Real-Time Maude verification model from a Ptolemy II DE model, and the formal
verification of the synthesized model in Real-Time Maude, have been integrated
into Ptolemy II, enabling a model-engineering process that combines the
convenience of Ptolemy II DE modeling and simulation with formal verification
in Real-Time Maude.Comment: In Proceedings RTRTS 2010, arXiv:1009.398
Therapeutic target discovery using Boolean network attractors: improvements of kali
In a previous article, an algorithm for identifying therapeutic targets in
Boolean networks modeling pathological mechanisms was introduced. In the
present article, the improvements made on this algorithm, named kali, are
described. These improvements are i) the possibility to work on asynchronous
Boolean networks, ii) a finer assessment of therapeutic targets and iii) the
possibility to use multivalued logic. kali assumes that the attractors of a
dynamical system, such as a Boolean network, are associated with the phenotypes
of the modeled biological system. Given a logic-based model of pathological
mechanisms, kali searches for therapeutic targets able to reduce the
reachability of the attractors associated with pathological phenotypes, thus
reducing their likeliness. kali is illustrated on an example network and used
on a biological case study. The case study is a published logic-based model of
bladder tumorigenesis from which kali returns consistent results. However, like
any computational tool, kali can predict but can not replace human expertise:
it is a supporting tool for coping with the complexity of biological systems in
the field of drug discovery
Compensation-aware runtime monitoring
To avoid large overheads induced by runtime monitoring, the use of
asynchronous log-based monitoring is sometimes adopted — even though this
implies that the system may proceed further despite having reached an anomalous
state. Any actions performed by the system after the error occurring are undesirable, since for instance, an unchecked malicious user may perform unauthorized
actions. Since stopping such actions is not feasible, in this paper we investigate
the use of compensations to enable the undoing of actions, thus enriching asynchronous monitoring with the ability to restore the system to the original state
in which the anomaly occurred. Furthermore, we show how allowing the monitor to adaptively synchronise and desynchronise with the system is also possible
and report on the use of the approach on an industrial case study of a financial
transaction system.peer-reviewe
Modelação e simulação de equipamentos de rede para Indústria 4.0
Currently, the industrial sector has increasingly opted for digital technologies
in order to automate all its processes. This development comes from
notions like Industry 4.0 that redefines the way these systems are designed.
Structurally, all the components of these systems are connected in a complex
network known as the Industrial Internet of Things. Certain requirements
arise from this concept regarding industrial communication networks. Among
them, the need to ensure real-time communications, as well as support for
dynamic resource management, are extremely relevant. Several research
lines pursued to develop network technologies capable of meeting such
requirements. One of these protocols is the Hard Real-Time Ethernet Switch
(HaRTES), an Ethernet switch with support for real-time communications and
dynamic resource management, requirements imposed by Industry 4.0.
The process of designing and implementing industrial networks can,
however, be quite time consuming and costly. These aspects impose
limitations on testing large networks, whose level of complexity is higher and
requires the usage of more hardware. The utilization of network simulators
stems from the necessity to overcome such restrictions and provide tools to
facilitate the development of new protocols and evaluation of communications
networks.
In the scope of this dissertation a HaRTES switch model was developed
in the OMNeT++ simulation environment. In order to demonstrate a
solution that can be employed in industrial real-time networks, this dissertation
presents the fundamental aspects of the implemented model as well as a set
of experiments that compare it with an existing laboratory prototype, with the
objective of validating its implementation.Atualmente o setor industrial tem vindo cada vez mais a optar por tecnologias
digitais de forma a automatizar todos os seus processos. Este desenvolvimento
surge de noções como Indústria 4.0, que redefine o modo de como
estes sistemas são projetados. Estruturalmente, todos os componentes
destes sistemas encontram-se conectados numa rede complexa conhecida
como Internet Industrial das Coisas. Certos requisitos advêm deste conceito,
no que toca às redes de comunicação industriais, entre os quais se destacam
a necessidade de garantir comunicações tempo-real bem como suporte a
uma gestão dinâmica dos recursos, os quais são de extrema importância.
Várias linhas de investigação procuraram desenvolver tecnologias de rede
capazes de satisfazer tais exigências. Uma destas soluções é o "Hard
Real-Time Ethernet Switch" (HaRTES), um switch Ethernet com suporte a
comunicações de tempo-real e gestão dinâmica de Qualidade-de-Serviço
(QoS), requisitos impostos pela Indústria 4.0.
O processo de projeto e implementação de redes industriais pode, no
entanto, ser bastante moroso e dispendioso. Tais aspetos impõem limitações
no teste de redes de largas dimensões, cujo nível de complexidade é
mais elevado e requer o uso de mais hardware. Os simuladores de redes
permitem atenuar o impacto de tais limitações, disponibilizando ferramentas
que facilitam o desenvolvimento de novos protocolos e a avaliação de redes
de comunicações.
No âmbito desta dissertação desenvolveu-se um modelo do switch HaRTES
no ambiente de simulação OMNeT++. Com um objetivo de demonstrar uma
solução que possa ser utilizada em redes de tempo-real industriais, esta
dissertação apresenta os aspetos fundamentais do modelo implementado
bem como um conjunto de experiências que o comparam com um protótipo
laboratorial já existente, no âmbito da sua validação.Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicaçõe
FTT-Ethernet: A Flexible Real-Time Communication Protocol that Supports Dynamic QoS Management on Ethernet-based Systems
Ethernet was not originally developed to meet the
requirements of real-time industrial automation systems and
it was commonly considered unsuited for applications at the
field level. Hence, several techniques were developed to make
this protocol exhibit real-time behavior, some of them requiring
specialized hardware, others providing soft-real-time guarantees
only, or others achieving hard real-time guarantees with
different levels of bandwidth efficiency. More recently, there has
been an effort to support quality-of-service (QoS) negotiation
and enforcement but there is not yet an Ethernet-based data
link protocol capable of providing dynamic QoS management
to further exploit the variable requirements of dynamic applications.
This paper presents the FTT-Ethernet protocol, which
efficiently supports hard-real-time operation in a flexible way,
seamlessly over shared or switched Ethernet. The FTT-Ethernet
protocol employs an efficient master/multislave transmission
control technique and combines online scheduling with online
admission control, to guarantee continued real-time operation
under dynamic communication requirements, together with data
structures and mechanisms that are tailored to support dynamic
QoS management. The paper includes a sample application,
aiming at the management of video streams, which highlights
the protocol’s ability to support dynamic QoS management with
real-time guarantees
DESIGN OF OPTIMAL PROCEDURAL CONTROLLERS FOR CHEMICAL PROCESSES MODELLED AS STOCHASTIC DISCRETE EVENT SYSTEMS
This thesis presents a formal method for the the design of optimal and provably correct
procedural controllers for chemical processes modelled as Stochastic Discrete Event Systems
(SDESs). The thesis extends previous work on Procedural Control Theory (PCT) [1],
which used formal techniques for the design of automation Discrete Event Systems (DESs).
Many dynamic processes for example, batch operations and the start-up and shut down of
continuous plants, can be modelled as DESs. Controllers for these systems are typically
of the sequential type.
Most prior work on characterizing the behaviour of DESs has been restricted to deterministic
systems. However, DESs consisting of concurrent interacting processes present
a broad spectrum of uncertainty such as uncertainty in the occurrence of events. The
formalism of weighted probabilistic Finite State Machine (wp-FSM) is introduced for
modelling SDESs and pre-de ned failure models are embedded in wp-FSM to describe
and control the abnormal behaviour of systems. The thesis presents e cient algorithms
and procedures for synthesising optimal procedural controllers for such SDESs.
The synthesised optimal controllers for such stochastic systems will take into consideration
probabilities of events occurrence, operation costs and failure costs of events in
making optimal choices in the design of control sequences. The controllers will force the
system from an initial state to one or more goal states with an optimal expected cost and
when feasible drive the system from any state reached after a failure to goal states.
On the practical side, recognising the importance of the needs of the target end
user, the design of a suitable software implementation is completed. The potential of both
the approach and the supporting software are demonstrated by two industry case studies.
Furthermore, the simulation environment gPROMS was used to test whether the operating
speci cations thus designed were met in a combined discrete/continuous environment
Precise Modelling of Compensating Business Transactions and its Application to BPEL
We describe the StAC language which can be used to specify the orchestration of activities in long running business transactions. Long running business transactions use compensation to cope with exceptions. StAC supports sequential and parallel behaviour as well as exception and compensation handling. We also show how the B notation may be combined with StAC to specify the data aspects of transactions. The combination of StAC and B provides a rich formal notation which allows for succinct and precise specification of business transactions. BPEL is an industry standard language for specifying business transactions and includes compensation constructs. We show how a substantial subset of BPEL can be mapped to StAC thus demonstrating the expressiveness of StAC and providing a formal semantics for BPEL
Using mobility and exception handling to achieve mobile agents that survive server crash failures
Mobile agent technology, when designed and used effectively, can minimize bandwidth consumption and autonomously provide a snapshot of the current context of a distributed system. Protecting mobile agents from server crashes is a challenging issue, since developers normally have no control over remote servers. Server crash failures can leave replicas, instable storage, unavailable for an unknown time period. Furthermore, few systems have considered the need for using a fault tolerant protocol among a group of collaborating mobile agents. This thesis uses exception handling to protect mobile agents from server crash failures. An exception model is proposed for mobile agents and two exception handler designs are investigated. The first exists at the server that created the mobile agent and uses a timeout mechanism. The second, the mobile shadow scheme, migrates with the mobile agent and operates at the previous server visited by the mobile agent. A case study application has been developed to compare the performance of the two exception handler designs. Performance results demonstrate that although the second design is slower it offers the smaller trip time when handling a server crash. Furthermore, no modification of the server environment is necessary. This thesis shows that the mobile shadow exception handling scheme reduces complexity for a group of mobile agents to survive server crashes. The scheme deploys a replica that monitors the server occupied by the master, at each stage of the itinerary. The replica exists at the previous server visited in the itinerary. Consequently, each group member is a single fault tolerant entity with respect to server crash failures. Other schemes introduce greater complexity and performance overheads since, for each stage of the itinerary, a group of replicas is sent to servers that offer an equivalent service. In addition, future research is established for fault tolerance in groups of collaborating mobile agents
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