Supervisors and their simplification in automated manufacturing systems via Petri nets

Abstract

Most contemporary manufacturing systems appear as complex event-driven automation facilities. Supervisor synthesis and simplification are fundamental in automated manufacturing systems (AMSs). From design and implementation standpoints, it is preferable to decrease supervisor scales so as to mitigate their realization expense. Ordinary and general Petri nets are considered as powerful formalisms to describe, analyze, and control AMSs. The former is concise while the latter is compact. By considering both cases, our approach shows some properties so as to disclose their rationales with regard to liveness enforcement. Many control methodologies are developed in the context of the ordinary ones. They are straightforward but might be unadaptable to the general ones. This work develops new theory in this perspective. Some comparison and contrast survey has been demonstrated in order to clarify their common theoretical basis and distinct supervisory effect. In accordance to a thorough study, a novel simplification method is developed so as to unify both cases and facilitate their application. Experimental results show that the developed strategy is effective and efficient when simplifying supervisors.