On synchronous and asynchronous communication in Modular High-Level Nets: The case of ECATNets

Modular High-Level Nets (MHLN) is now in widespread use for many different practical purposes. However the modular analysis methods developed so far for MHLNs, allow dealing only with one way of communication, thus forcing the designer to choose in an earlier stage of the design phase between synchronous or asynchronous communication. This problem arises particularly in MHLNs like ECATNets (Extended Concurrent Algebraic Term Nets) where both synchronous and asynchronous communication can coexist within a modular net. The objective of this paper is to propose an algorithm (and prove its correctness) allowing transforming a given MHLN (namely ECATNet) mixing the two ways of communication into a MHLN behaviorally equivalent but making use of only one way of communication. This approach must be done in such a way that algebraic specifications of generated modules are well defined and data models are preserved.