Hierarchy analysis of strongly connected systems based on the plant layout concept.

Abstract

The decomposition of a strongly connected structure, in which many cycles exist, is a very difficult problem. It can not be analyzed by previously used methods. This paper deals with an effective structure analysis for strongly connected structures. System structure analysis determines how to change strongly connected structures to ordered ones. A new method for solving the problem of structure layer order is described. It is based on the concept of using the smallest cycle of a directed graph, and the replacement of a line with the neighboring line in the incident matrix. By using the evaluation value, the problem of structure layer order can be solved easily. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by applying it to the LSI transportation system in the last section of the paper.