With this e-mail I wish to convince you to join a loosely
knit group of researchers with the aim of - together -
researching and developing theories about "The Railway Domain",
abbreviated 'TRain'. TRain is essentially a "Grand Challenge"
project in computing science - (also) using formal specification
& verification (theorem proving, model checkers, formal speci-
fication based testing, etc.) techniques along the lines of
ASM, B (and event B), CafeOBJ, CASL, CSP, Duration Calculi
(DC), RAISE/RSL, TLA+, VDM/VDM-SL, Z (Z/Eves, TCOZ), etc., -
with these being possibly integrated with one another (to wit:
RAISE with Timing + DC) or with visual/diagrammatic (formal)
techniques: CTPs, MSCs, LSCs, Petri Nets, Statecharts, UML
Class Diagrams, etc., etc.
I refer to:
http://www.railwaydomain.org/
These web pages are under current revison, update and extension.
You may think of yourselves as working in verification, or in
formal testing, or in model checking, or in integrated formal
techniques ('methods'), maybe not so much in 'railways' - or in
the larger, but strongly related area of transportation systems.
Fine, excellent - but I am sure that railways pose significant
challenges also in your area, as an application. Therefore I
want your kind consideration. "Turn" your recent reports and
papers around: And you may have a non-trivial contribution to
the understanding of The Railway Domain, whether just to the domain
itself, void of any reference to requirements to computing systems,
or to requirements to railway systems, or to the design of such
systems.
The way I see TRain is - for example - as follows, ie., by analogy:
Mechanical engineers, designing, say transmission systems, make use
of the classical theory of mechanics; aircraft designers of aero-
dynamics, ship designers of fluid dynamics, etc., etc. So engineers
make use of theories of physics. But software engineers, designing
for example software for railways: Upon which theory do they base
their work. Before software can be designed its requirements must be
understood, but before requirements can be finally formulated one
must understand, we claim, the domain. So TRain is about understanding
the railway domain.
I would like you to respond to this e-mail, to me and to Martin Penicka:
[log in to unmask], in either of the following ways:
[NO] Sorry, Dines, great idea - but I am busy otherwise. Good luck !
[YES] Yes, great idea, let's do something - then one or more of:
[MAILING LIST] Keep me posted on what's happing in TRain
[REPOSITORY] Please include attached .pdf or .ps files
of reports and papers that I (ie. YOU) think
should go into the TRain repository - Pls.
CC Martin Penicka [log in to unmask] on this.
[BIBLIOGRAPHY] Pls. be aware of the following reports that I
(ie., YOU) think should go into the TRain
Bibliography (give, for example, the BiBTeX
entries).
[INTERESTS] I (ie. YOU) are interested in the following
areas within Railways:
Allocation & Scheduling
Interlocking
Network Planning
Rostering
Signalling
Time Tabling
Train Control Systems
...etc. ...
Hoping to hear from you, I close
Sincerely
Dines Bjorner
PS: Pages
http://www.railwaydomain.org/index.php?page=docs&subpage=pre-conference
http://www.railwaydomain.org/index.php?page=docs&subpage=reports
lists some papers
--
-------------------------------------------------
Professor Dines Bjorner
PhD, Dr.h.c., MAE, MRANS, IEEE Fellow
Department of Computer Science
School of Computing
National University of Singapore
3 Science Drive 2
Singapore S-117543
Republic of Singapore
Office S15 06-04
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~bjorner
Telephone +65 6874 6731
Fax: +65 6779 4580
-------------------------------------------------
Kari and Dines Bjorner
Kent Vale
111 Clementi Rd Block C #10-07
Singapore S-129792
Republic of Singapore
Telephone: +65 6776 8970
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