Deadlock free task distribution and resource allocation for holonic manufacturing systems based on multi-agent framework

Holonic manufacturing systems (HMS) are the next wave of manufacturing revolution to deal with dynamic changes. A HMS can be modeled as a cooperative multi-agent system with constraints of production processes and finite resources. Deadlocks may also take place in HMS. Although there are many works on HMS, there is still lack of research known to the author addressing the issue of deadlock in HMS. This paper focuses on the modeling of HMS and development of deadlock free task distribution and resource allocation protocol and algorithm based on the framework of multi-agent systems. Our results include: (1) a mathematical multi-agent model for the HMS; (2) characterization of deadlock free conditions for task distribution and resource allocation; (3) a collaboration network formation process for coordination and negotiation among agents; and (4) a class of deadlock free task distribution and resource allocation algorithms based on deadlock free conditions.