Section: New Results

Hybrid Modeling

Participants : Albert Benveniste, Benoît Caillaud.

Hybrid system modelers have become a corner stone of complex embedded system development. Embedded systems include not only control components and software, but also physical devices. In this area, Simulink is a de facto standard design framework, and Modelica a new player. However, such tools raise several issues related to the lack of reproducibility of simulations (sensitivity to simulation parameters and to the choice of a simulation engine). In [10] we propose using techniques from non-standard analysis to define a semantic domain for hybrid systems. Non-standard analysis is an extension of classical analysis in which infinitesimal (the $ϵ$ and $\eta$ in the celebrated generic sentence $\forall$$ϵ$$\exists$$\eta$... of college maths) can be manipulated as first class citizens. This approach allows us to define both a denotational semantics, a constructive semantics, and a Kahn Process Network semantics for hybrid systems, thus establishing simulation engines on a sound but flexible mathematical foundation. These semantics offer a clear distinction between the concerns of the numerical analyst (solving differential equations) and those of the computer scientist (generating execution schemes). We also discuss a number of practical and fundamental issues in hybrid system modelers that give rise to non-reproducibility of results, non-determinism, and undesirable side effects. Of particular importance are cascaded mode changes (also called "zero-crossings" in the context of hybrid systems modelers). This work has taken place in the framework of the Synchronics large scale initiative (see section  8.1.1 ).