A Petri Net-Based Software Synchronizer for Automatic Measurement Systems

A Petri net (PN)-based approach to software synchronization in automatic measurement systems is proposed. Tasks are synchronized by means of a PN modeling an execution graph, where nodes represent tasks and arrows among nodes point out time succession among the corresponding tasks. This allows software synchronization to be abstracted above the code level by leaving the test engineer to work at a more intuitive level. As an experimental case study, the design, the implementation, and the application to a measurement scenario of the PN-based synchronizer inside the software framework for testing magnets at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) are illustrated.