Abstract

Operation modes are useful structuring units that facilitate design of several safety-critical systems such as such as avionic, transportation and space systems. Although some support to the construction of modal systems can be found in the literature, modelling abstractions for the formal specification, analysis and correct construction of modal systems are still lacking. This paper discusses existing support for the construction of modal systems and proposes both a formalisation and a refinement notion for modal systems. A modal system, specified using the proposed abstractions, can be realised using different specification languages. Complementing the contribution, we define the requirements for an Event-B model to realise a modal system specification. A case study illustrates the proposed approach.