Deadlock avoidance in flexible manufacturing systems using finite automata

A distinguishing feature of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is the ab ility to perform multiple tasks in one machine or work-station (alternative machining) and the ability to process parts according to more than one seq uence of operations (alternative sequencing). In this paper, we address the issue of deadlock avoidance in systems having these characteristics. A dea dlock-free and maximally permissive control policy that incorporates this f lexibility is developed based on finite automata models of part process pla ns and the FMS. The resulting supervisor controller is used for dynamic eva luation of deadlock avoidance based on the remaining processing requirement s of the parts.