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StateWORKS

History

The basic VFSM concept was conceived by Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Wagner, and further developed with the help of Ruedi Schmuki who developed the software for the real-time-database.

The important milestones of the StateWORKS development are:

  • 1986 - 1990: Definition of VFSM concept and first implementation in E-Pascal on PDP-rtVax computer for SDS (Single Disk Sputtering) and Cluster Line machines in BALZERS AG (now Unaxis), Liechtenstein.
  • 1991: Application of the E-Pascal implementation for development of the Virtual Inline Systems VIS-750 in Pfeifer AG, Germany.
  • 1990 - 1991: Introduction of the VFSM Technology for telecommunication application in AT&T (now Lucent), Naperville, USA. AT&T designed a complete development and execution system for internal use. The software is written in C and is used, on an ever-increasing scale since that time, to develop switching systems. By mid-1997 over 600 programmers had been trained in this technology.
  • 1992: The paper F. Wagner: “VFSM Executable Specification” on CompEuro 1992, Hague, Holland.
  • 1994 - 1995: 2 patents (U.S. Patent No. 5,301,100 and 5,463,543) granted by Patent and Trademark Office, USA.
  • 1991 - 1993: Implementation of the VFSM-Technology on TSM system (Z280-microcontroller) and on Lynx-System (real time UNIX for PC).
  • 1992 - 1996: Development of StateWORKS (development and run-time system for WindowsNT operating system). This product is distributed by SW Software, Buchs, Switzerland.
  • 1994 - 1997: Development of Gantner control system for Coffee Roast Factory (Zumtobel, Dornbirn, Austria) and building control (Büro Fürrer and Sihl+Eika, Zürich, Switzerland) by AUMAT Software in Austria.
  • 1994: Book F. Wagner: “The Virtual Finite State Machine: Executable Control Flow Specification”.
  • 1994 - 1997: Introduction of the VFSM Technology and StateWORKS tools at the technical university Lausitz, Senftenberg, Germany by Prof. F. Wagner.
  • 1996: Trademark “StateWORKS”, No: 395 33 236.2, granted by DPMA, Munich, Germany.
  • 1997: The paper Flora-Holmquist, A.R., Morton, E., O’Grady, M.G., Staskauskas, M.G., “The Virtual Finite-State Machine Design and Implementation Paradigm”, Bell Labs Technical Journal (1997): 97-113.
  • 1997 - 2000: Development of a new software generation for Optoelectronic Measurement Devices using StateWORKS, Focus (UBM), Ettlingen, Germany.
  • 2000 - 2002: Improvements of development tools. Introduction of the run-time system with the COM-interface.
  • 2001 - 2004: Application of StateWORKS for robot control system, Data Physics. Filderstadt, Germany.
  • 2002: Application of StateWORKS for implementation of a proprietary RS. ITP protocol for data transmission in wireless sets, Rohde&Schwarz, Munich, Germany.
  • 2003: Introduction of StateWORKS Studio and StateWORKS System products. Major improvements of development tools, for instance XML export, terminal client, debug extensions for monitor etc.
  • 2004 - 2005: Introduction of the run-time systems for different variants of Windows: Windows XP embedded and Windows CE. Expansion of the run-time system onto Linux platform.
  • 2005 - 2006: Book F. Wagner, R. Schmuki, T. Wagner, P. Wolstenholme: “Modeling Software with Finite State Machines: A Practical Approach”.
  • 2006: Mr. Vito Marolda in Maranello (Modena), Italy developed a compiler for translating the StateWORKS specification results into C code. This work is aimed at embedded systems. The compiler was used first time in a project of multi-ingredient dosing and mixing automation (70 I/O’s, 300 parameters, 19 Units, 17 different VFSM designs with a total of 39 VFSM instances).
  • 2010-2011: Design and implementation of TechnoDoor, France control system using an RTDB based application and the RtdbUI library. The I/O interface is built using ioBoard.net components.
  • 2011: addition of the thinState compiler to the StateWORKS Studio. The thinState compiler generates C-code being an implementation of the specified system of state machines. It may be used in microcontroller applications.
  • 2014: Company SW Software closed.
  • 2024: StateWORKS takeover by Adrian Wagner with direct consent of the founder. Website completely revised.