On Petri nets and self-stabilization of communication protocols

With Petri nets as the concurrent model, the issue of self-stabilizing communication protocols is discussed. It is argued that self-stabilizing extensions of communication protocols should not interfere with their normal operations by giving a new definition of self-stabilizing extension and a ring net that meets the new definition. It is also argued that communication protocols are usually delay sensitive and timed Petri nets provide a more suitable formal model than ordinary Petri nets to express the self-stabilizing property. The possibility and suitability of using Petri nets with a new type of transitions, the max transitions, to express self-stabilizing communication protocols is explored. To facilitate practical implementations, two types of interferences, external and internal interferences, are formally identified and discussed.