Petri nets tools framework supporting FPGA-based controller implementations

This paper presents a set of tools having embedded systems co-design as the main target area of application and Petri nets as the underlying modeling formalism. The presented tools have been developed within the framework of the R&D FORDESIGN project, which will be briefly presented along with the proposed development methodology. The Petri net model, which is defined on top of the well-known place-transition Petri nets class, and represented in compliance with the PNML format, is the common link across the set of tools already developed (beta versions). These include a graphical editor, automatic code generators for different target languages (namely C and VHDL), tools for model composition and model decomposition (to support the usage of co-design techniques), and a configuration tool (where reconfigurable platforms, like FPGAs, and microcontroller architectures are considered as implementation platforms). The usage of some of the developed tools is briefly presented using an automation system example, in order to obtain specifications for a set of distributed controllers, and deployment into an FPGA-based implementation platform.