Performance evaluation from stochastic statecharts representation of flexible reactive systems: A simulation approach

Abstract

This paper focuses on the performance analysis of flexible reactive systems. The performance analysis consists of two phases: first system modeling, second performance evaluation. The paper models the flexible reactive system by the stochastic statecharts method, and uses the simulation method to evaluate the performance. To make use of the feature of event-triggered state transitions in the statecharts, a new method of simulation is proposed based on the techniques of the discrete-event system simulation. The new method solves the problem of computer implementation of stochastic events, probabilistic transition, concurrent states, parallel actions, and broadcast communication mechanism in the stochastic statecharts. An example of a flexible manufacturing system is presented. The simulation result of the example is consistent with the analytical result, which shows the feasibility of the proposed new simulation method.