Causal-Block Diagrams: A Family of Languages for Causal Modelling of Cyber-Physical Systems [chapter]

Cláudio Gomes, Joachim Denil, Hans Vangheluwe
2020 Foundations of Multi-Paradigm Modelling for Cyber-Physical Systems  
The description of a complex system in terms of constituent components and their interaction is one of the most natural and intuitive ways of decomposition. Causal Block Diagram (CBD) models combine subsystem blocks in a network of relationships between input signals and output signals. Popular modelling and simulation tools such as Matlab/Simulink ® implement different variants from the family of Causal Block Diagram formalisms. This chapter gives an overview of modelling and simulation of
more » ... ems with software and physical components using Causal Block Diagrams. It describes the syntax and -both declarative and operational -semantics of CBDs incrementally. Starting from simple algebraic models (no notion of time), we introduce, first a discrete notion of time (leading to discrete-time CBDs) and subsequently, a continuous notion of time (leading to continuous-time CBDs). Each new variant builds on the previous ones.
doi:10.1007/978-3-030-43946-0_4 fatcat:lzwffecy5fcildhf5vggz6s3zi