Method for a design of distributed control systems

A method for the design of modular programs for distributable applications in the process control domain is presented. By `distributable´ is meant applications which can be distributed on a network after their specification and programming. In addition to the advantage of delaying the binding time, this method also allows safe design. It relies on the formalism of interpreted Petri nets (IPNs). All transformation primitives that contribute to the method produce IPNs with good qualities. It is based on a priori safe design, not on a posteriori verification, and on three key points: a global methodology which describes the steps to be followed and their ordering; a common description formalism which is used for all the steps (specification, organization, validation, and evaluation); and three complementary design techniques