The design of concurrent and real-time systems is difficult. It is even more difficult to design them correctly. Introduction to the Formal Design of Real Time Systems is based on the premise that in order to design things correctly it is necessary to thoroughly understand the design as it evolves from problem definition through to solution validation and, though the simplest way to maintain such an understanding is from within a formal mathematical framework, this will only be effective if the framework is simple to understand and easy to use. This book is based on courses given to undergraduate and masters students in Electrical Engineering, Information Technology and Computer Science, and backed by copious worked examples.

but when we state that A 'equals' B , as well having to know what we mean by A and B we also have know what we mean by 'equals'. This section explores the role of observers; how different types of observ er see different things as being equal, and how we can produce algo rithms to decide on such equalities. It also explores how we go about writing specifications to which we may compare our SCCS designs. • The final section is the one which the students like best. Once enough of SCCS is grasped to decide upon the component parts of a design, the 'turning the handle' steps of composition and check ing that the design meets its specification are both error-prone and tedious. This section introduces the concurrency work bench, which shoulders most of the burden. How you use the book is up to you; I'm not even going to suggest path ways. Individual readers know what knowledge they seek, and course leaders know which concepts they are trying to impart and in what order.

Inhalt
1 Scene Set.- 1.1 Making Models.- 1.2 Lies, Damn Lies and Models.- 1.3 Abstraction, Atomicity and Algebras.- 1.4 Labelled Transition Systems.- 1.5 One at Once, All Together and In Time.- 1.6 Real-Time Systems.- 2 Concurrency and Communication.- 2.1 Concurrency - Defining the Problems.- 2.2 Programming Domain Solutions.- 2.3 Review and Rethink.- 3 Message Passing.- 3.1 Choosing the Best.- 3.2 Blocking Send.- 3.3 CCS (Calculus of Communicating Systems).- 3.4 Rendezvous.- 3.5 Conclusion.- 4 Synchronous Calculus of Communicating Systems.- 4.1 An Overview of SCCS.- 4.2 Plain SCCS.- 4.3 Recursion.- 4.4 Actions, Particles, Composites and All Sorts.- 4.5 Synchronisation.- 4.6 Constructional Design.- 4.7 Message Passing.- 4.8 Agents Lurking.- 4.9 Specifications and Proof.- 5 Equivalence.- 5.0 The Need For Equivalence.- 5.1 Traces.- 5.2 From Traces to Bisimulations.- 5.3 Bisimulation.- 6 Automating SCCS.- 6.0 Concurrency Work Bench: an Introduction.- 6.1 CWB and Agent Behaviours.- 6.2 Agents, Bisimulation and CWB.- 6.3 Comments.- 7 Proving Things Correct.- 7.1 Modal Logics.- 7.2 Modal Logic, CWB and Satisfaction.- 8 End End Note.- Appendix 1 Some of the More Useful SCCS Propositions.- Appendix 2 Notation Used Throughout the Book.- References.