Analysis of Asynchronous Circuits and Processes

Abstract

The complexity of the control of asynchronous processes is the motivation for the development of methods of analysis for them. The most common analysis problems for asynchronous computations involve the detection of deadlock, and the checking that the functioning of the system is independent of the duration of actions performed by the components of the system. Such problems emerge at all stages of the design of systems controlling asynchronous processes. For example, in the development of parallel program notations and protocols of inter-modular communications, in the synthesis of the micro-progam control of concurrent processes, in the implementation of the hardware control of processes, say, by means of aperiodic circuits, to mention but a few.

There’s a story about a physicist who earned tremendous prestige by deriving a formula for the radius of the Universe from rather general mathematical notions. It was an impressive formula richly stuffed with constants e, c, h.

There were also several π’s and many square roots in it. Since he was a confirmed theoretician, he did not care very much about actual numerical values. Several years had passed before any one found himself calculating the radius of the Universe.

It turned out to be ten centimetres.

Ian Stewart