Modelling and validation of Distributed Systems

The CPN group at Aarhus University has been the home for the development of Coloured Petri Nets over the last 30 years. The group is considered to be one of the world leaders within the theory and application of high-level Petri Nets. It has written several text books and numerous research papers. Moreover it has developed a computer tool CPN Tools with 10,000 licenses in 150 countries.

Coloured Petri Nets (CP-nets or CPNs) is a graphical language for constructing models of concurrent systems and analysing their behaviour. Petri nets provide the foundation of the graphical notation and the basic primitives for modelling concurrency, communication, and synchronisation. A functional programming language Standard ML provides the primitives for the definition of data types, for describing data manipulation, and for creating compact and parameterisable models.

Typical application domains are communication protocols, data networks, distributed algorithms, embedded systems, business processes and workflows, manufacturing systems, and agent systems.

For further information please visit the CPN web-pages: http://www.cs.au.dk/CPnets/