EXTENDED STATECHARTS FOR THE MODELING AND SPECIFICATION OF MANUFACTURING CONTROL SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Building software systems that are easier to use implies addressing th e issue of increasing complexities in managing processes and communica tion between processes. In order to manage complexity, it is very impo rtant to have tools, notation, and methodologies which support the des igner's work during design resolution This paper introduces Extended S tatecharts as a comprehensive modelling mechanism for high-level syste ms design. Extended Statecharts allow for the implicit representation of declarable, problem-specific system soft failures, thereby allowing for failure related information to be incorporated into the high-leve l system design. Temporal logic is used for verification of important design properties. An example of an assembly process is used to illust rate the capabilities of Extended Statecharts.