Dependent automata for the modelling of dependencies

Abstract

As far as we know there is not a definition of dependency in a formal setting: to fill this gap we propose in this paper a state based formalism called (network of) Dependent Automata, that consider dependencies as central elements. When used for modelling interdependencies in critical infrastructures, each infrastructure is modelled as a Dependent Automaton, that accounts for local behaviour and for dependencies from and to other infrastructures, while the whole system is obtained by composition of the automata of the infrastructures considered. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.