Analyzing selected properties of manufacturing systems using orthogonal functional abstractions: a case study

The orthogonal functional abstractions, introduced previously by the author (1995), represent selected external functional behavior of Petri net models. By using orthogonal abstractions which represent one specific aspect of the external behavior of Petri net models constituting a model of a system, the selected functionality of the whole system can be studied in separation from other functionalities. This allows one to study paths of flow of major resources in the system. In addition, the correctness of the interfaces between the constituent components of the system can be studied as well. In this paper, it is demonstrated how the concept can be used to analyze selected behavioral properties of a flexible manufacturing system.