This paper deals with a formal specification approach that supports the design of small, real-time embedded applications with distributed architectures. After discussing the notion of local time and its role in computer science and software engineering, the next section of the paper reviews an original specification language dedicated to local-time concepts. The next contribution consists in treating a real world, networked measurement system application as a case study to demonstrate utilization of this language for behavioral specifications of distributed real-time systems. Moreover, this paper examines how to employ a nonobject oriented specification tool for object-oriented implementations.