Version:
v9.0
[release notes]

# About Eclipse ESCET™

#### The Eclipse ESCET project

The Eclipse Supervisory Control Engineering Toolkit (Eclipse ESCET™) project is an Eclipse Foundation open-source project that provides a toolkit for the development of supervisory controllers in the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) paradigm.

The toolkit has a strong focus on model-based design, supervisory controller synthesis, and industrial applicability, for example to cyber-physical systems. The toolkit supports the entire development process of (supervisory) controllers, from modeling, supervisory controller synthesis, simulation-based validation and visualization, and formal verification, to real-time testing and implementation.

The toolkit provides the following languages and associated tools:

- CIF: a modeling language and extensive toolset supporting the synthesis-based engineering approach, covering the entire development process of supervisory controllers.
- Chi: a modeling language and toolset to analyze the performance of supervisory controllers.
- ToolDef: a cross-platform and machine-independent scripting language to automate CIF and Chi tools.

'ESCET' is pronounced as 'èsèt'. Or more precisely, it is pronounced as the following sequence of sounds: an 'e' of 'bed', an 's' of 'see', another 'e' of 'bed', and a 't' of 'tea'. The emphasis is on the first part of the word. In the International Phonetic Alphabet it is spelled as ['ɛsɛt].

#### Synthesis-based engineering

High-tech companies increasingly adopt the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) paradigm. The use of (formal) models for controller design allows validation and verification of controllers long before they are implemented and integrated into the system. Early validation and verification have been shown to lead to less defects and reduced costs.

Synthesis-based engineering (SBE) is an engineering approach to design and implement supervisory controllers. It combines model-based engineering with computer-aided design to produce correct-by-construction controllers. It does so by automating as many steps as possible in the development process.

Supervisory controller synthesis is a main element of synthesis-based engineering, and a key feature of CIF. It involves the automatic generation of supervisory controller models. Implementation of the controller is achieved through (implementation language) code generation, improving speed and reducing the number of errors introduced at this stage. Combined, they allow engineers to focus on what the controller should do, rather than how it should do it, and how this is to be implemented.

Synthesis-based engineering has many more benefits. As the engineering approach uses well-defined models, designs can be discussed, analyzed, model-checked, or simulated. That allows finding and correcting issues early in the development process, rather than during later stages where correcting them is more costly. It also supports a comprehensive modular design and efficient incremental engineering. Ultimately, this reduces development time and improves the quality of the resulting supervisory controllers.

For more information, see CIF's synthesis-based engineering manual, or follow the online SBE course.