There is a natural synergy between the various members of the group with tools and techniques developed in one project being applicable to others. The group meets regularly to discuss research directions and present new results. A schedule of meetings is available on the ACRC current events page . Dr. Alex J. Cowie Mr. Martyn A. George Mr. David F. George Assoc. The Circal process algebra is used for the description and rigorous verification of concurrent systems.
Applications involve digital hardware, traffic system modelling and safety-critical systems.
Since process algebras are low level languages they provide us with a powerful and flexible medium for description, but they do require the development of specific design methodologies to be used with specific applications. Moreover, design engineers find that the notation used by a formal specification language does not readily relate to design representations with which they are more accustomed. This research aims at the development of tools based on Circal that are customised for different application domains. Hardware compilation of Circal , developing an efficient compiler for structural Circal and establishing the framework for compiling arbitrary behavioural Circal processes to circuits. Reconfigurable Computing .