Automated synthesis and composition of taskblocks for control of manufacturing systems

Automated control synthesis methods for discrete-event systems promise to r educe the time required to develop, debug, and modify control software. Suc h methods must be able to translate high-level control goals into detailed sequences of actuation and sensing signals. In this paper, we present such a technique. It relies on analysis of a system model, defined as a set of i nteracting components, each represented as a form of condition system Petri net. Control logic modules, called taskblocks, are synthesized from these individual models. These then interact hierarchically and sequentially to d rive the system through specified control goals. The resulting controller i s automatically converted to executable control code, The paper concludes w ith a discussion of a set of software tools developed to demonstrate the te chniques on a small manufacturing system.