Optimal control of timed event graphs with resource sharing and output-reference update

Abstract

Abstract Timed event graphs (TEGs) are a subclass of timed Petri nets that model synchronization and delay phenomena, but not conflict or choice. We consider a scenario where a number of TEGs share one or several resources and are subject to changes in their output-reference signals. Because of resource sharing, the resulting overall discrete event system is not a TEG. We propose a formal method to determine the optimal control input for such systems, where optimality is in the sense of the widely adopted just-in-time criterion. Our approach is based on a prespecified priority policy for the TEG components of the overall system. It builds on existing control theory for TEGs, which exploits the fact that, in a suitable mathematical framework (idempotent semirings such as the max-plus or the min-plus algebra), the temporal evolution of TEGs can be described by a set of linear time-invariant equations.