Formal study of reconfigurable manufacturing systems: A high level Petri nets based approach

Abstract

A Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) has the ability to adapt itself for new requirements and to handle accidental damages. This reconfiguration makes the system more efficient, thus, enhances its productivity. However, the development process of these systems and their reliability remain a big challenge. Formal methods are considered as one issue for designing theses systems and analysing their properties. The objective of this paper is to apply Petri Nets based methods in the modelling and simulation of RMS. In particular, RONs (Reconfigurable Object Nets) are used as a high level Petri Nets to catch the reconfigurability aspect in RMSs. This exploitation allows the developer to simulate, and verify formally the correctness and reliability of the RMSs. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.