Mimosa: A Language for Asynchronous Implementation of Embedded Systems Software

2025-03-04

AI Summary

To address the challenges of modeling time-triggered processes communicating via FIFOs in asynchronous reactive embedded systems—and the lack of side-effect support in conventional synchronous dataflow languages—this paper proposes Mimosa, a two-layer domain-specific language integrating time-triggered semantics with asynchronous coordination. Methodologically, Mimosa extends the Lustre dataflow syntax with explicit side-effect semantics and establishes a unified formal semantics framework comprising a process layer (textual rewriting) and a coordination layer (graphical rewriting). A prototype toolchain supports parsing, semantic interpretation, and simulation-based verification. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that Mimosa enables rigorous modeling of asynchronous temporal behaviors with side effects, achieving substantially greater expressiveness and semantic verifiability compared to existing synchronous dataflow languages.

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Agent-Based Simulation and Emergent Behavior
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Satisfiability Modulo Theories
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Data management and stream processing for Web, mobile and wireless applications
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

This paper introduces the Mimosa language, a programming language for the design and implementation of asynchronous reactive systems, describing them as a collection of time-triggered processes which communicate through FIFO buffers. Syntactically, Mimosa builds upon the Lustre data-flow language, augmenting it with a new semantics to allow for the expression of side-effectful computations, and extending it with an asynchronous coordination layer which orchestrates the communication between processes. A formal semantics is given to both the process and coordination layer through a textual and graphical rewriting calculus, respectively, and a prototype interpreter for simulation is provided.

Problem

• Design asynchronous reactive systems for embedded software.
• Extend Lustre language with asynchronous coordination capabilities.
• Provide formal semantics and simulation tools for Mimosa.

Innovation

• Mimosa: asynchronous reactive systems language
• Extends Lustre with side-effectful computations
• Formal semantics for process and coordination layers