Specification and simulation of industrial systems using an executable mathematical specification language

Most present day simulation languages use ASCII characters for representation of models. ASCII characters are chosen, because of the requirements of present day computer implementations. In mathematics, on the other hand, symbolic representations are common place, because of better readability. In this article, the Chi specification language is presented. The language is used for specification, simulation and control of industrial systems. It uses a symbolic notation that can be easily translated to an ASCII representation for simulation purposes. The Chi language is hybrid: its continuous-time part is based on differential algebraic equations; its discrete-event part is based on a CSP-like concurrent programming language. The language constructs have been chosen in such a way, that they resemble mathematical notations. Future work includes the development of an automatic Chi-ASCII to Chi-Latex translator.