An introduction to ET-LOTOS for the description of time-sensitive systems

Enhanced Timed-LOTOS, called ET-LOTOS, is an extension of LOTOS allowing the modelling of time-sensitive systems (i.e. systems whose behaviour is influenced by the passing of time). It is the basis of the timed extension of LOTOS currently developed by ISO (1995). The purpose of this paper is to present ET-LOTOS in a tutorial style and show its applicability. The detailed study of the formal semantics is addressed in another paper. A collection of small but realistic, examples illustrates a wide variety of time-sensitive protocol mechanisms. These examples are used to introduce and justify the extensions of our language. Finally, the basics of the formal semantics are given and a comparison is made with other timed formalisms.