Relational Semantics for Flow Graph Representations as Basis for Transformational Design of Digital Systems

Transformational design is a promising design methodology which combines correctness by construction and interactive design. In this design methodology the design steps are behaviour preserving transformations of one design representation into another. The representations used in transformational design need to have formal semantical models in order to prove the correctness, the behaviour preserving characteristics, of transformations. This paper presents a formal semantical model for flow graphs based on a relational algebra. Flow graph representations have been shown to be useful in high level synthesis [1]. Together with the presented semantical model, flow graphs are also useful in transformational design.