Grafcet revisited with a synchronous data-flow language

Abstract

The Grafcet (or sequential function charts) language is a graphic language often offered in programmable logic control systems (PLC) used for industrial control-command applications. Modeling of Grafcet by the synchronous data-flow language Signal gives both explicit semantics, and the corresponding simulator. The translation into a graph of tasks makes it possible to execute the Grafcet program on any hardware architecture. Moreover, the use of Signal's proof tools allows verification of Grafcet properties, opening the field of critical applications to this very expressive language.