Automatic code generation from high-level Petri-Nets for model driven systems engineering

One of the main concepts of the model driven architecture framework proposed by the OMG is the transformation of platform independent models into either platform dependent ones or into implementations. The latter needs generators which automatically translate models into code of a chosen target programming language. Nowadays most models in systems engineering are created with the UML as standardized set of notations. However, the UML is still largely undefined from a semantical point of view. Automatic code generation from these models is thus only possible if further semantic definitions are provided. Since Petri-Nets are frequently utilized for these purposes, the automatic generation of code from Petri-Nets is an important topic. Starting from this observation, this article gives an overview of different strategies to generate code from high-level Petri-Nets. One of these strategies is due to its characteristics investigated in more detail. Several improvements of the basic idea are introduced and also the impact of these enhancements in terms of efficient execution of generated code is illustrated with a benchmark.