Section: Application Domains

Hybrid Systems Design and Simulation

Modern embedded systems are increasingly conceived as rich amalgams of software, hardware, networking, and physical processes. The terms Cyberphysical System (CPS) or Internet-of-Things (IoT) are sometimes used as labels for this point of view.

In terms of modeling languages, the main challenges are to specify both discrete and continuous processes in a single hybrid language, give meaning to their compositions, simulate their interactions, analyze the behavior of the overall system, and extract code either for target control software or more efficient, possibly online, simulation. Languages like Simulink and Modelica are already used in the design and analysis of embedded systems; it is more important than ever to understand their underlying principles and to propose new constructs and analyses.