Abstract

Timed automata are a popular formalism to model real-time systems. They were introduced two decades ago to support formal verification. Since then they have also been used for other purposes and a large has been introduced to be able to deal with the many different kinds of requirements of real-time system. This paper presents a fairly comprehensive survey, comprised of eighty variants of timed automata. The paper classifies all these eighty variants of timed automata in an effort to determine current developments. It uses analysis techniques, formal properties, and decision problems to draw distinctions between different versions. Moreover, the paper discusses the challenges behind using a timed automata specification to derive an implementation of a working real-time system and presents some solutions. Finally, the paper lists and classifies forty tools supporting timed automata. The paper does not only discuss many variants and their supporting concepts (e.g., closure properties, decision problems), techniques (e.g., for analysis), and tools, but it also attempts to help the reader navigate the vast literature in the field, to highlight differences and similarities between variants, and to reveal research trends and promising avenues for future exploration.

Citations