A high-level Petri net based decision support system for real-time scheduling and control of flexible manufacturing systems: An object-oriented approach

Petri nets (PNs) are powerful tools for modeling and analysis of discrete event dynamic systems. The graphical nature and mathematical foundation make Petri net based methods appealing for a wide variety of areas including real-time scheduling and control of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). This study attempts to propose an object-oriented approach for modeling and analysis of shop floor scheduling and control problem in FMSs using high-level PNs. In this approach, firstly, object modeling diagram of the system is constructed and a heuristic rule-base is developed to solve the resource contention problem, then the dynamic behavior of the system is formulated by high-level PNs. The methodology is illustrated by an FMS.