The Zerberus Language: Describing the functional model of dependable real-time systems

A growing number of safety-critical systems is controlled by computer systems. Currently these systems are often built from scratch. The Zerberus System assists the developer in the design and implementation process. Main features of the Zerberus System are generality, dependability, real-time predictability, the ability to be certified and cost-efficiency. The main concept of the Zerberus System is the platform independent specification of the functional model by the developer. The functional model specifies the functional elements (tasks), the relation between these elements, the interaction of the system with the environment and the temporal constraints. On the base of the functional model the Zerberus System automatically generates the fault-tolerance mechanisms. Thus the task of the developer is restricted to the implementation of the application-dependent code. In this paper we present one major part of the Zerberus System: the Zerberus Language that is used to specify the functional model of the control applications.