A real-time Petri nets simulator for automated manufacturing systems

A real-time Petri nets simulator (RTPNS), including software specifications, interactive algorithm, firing rule, and real-time implementation, is presented. The software provides an intuitive design tool with graphical orientation and convenient debugging capability for the modeling and control of automated manufacturing systems. The complex interactions among control, communication, and database functions in a manufacturing environment is also addressed by using a Petri net model. The performance of the total system is evaluated by the developed software through computer simulation. The firing time, a key to the production rate, can be optimally selected through the simulation results. A computer simulation of control of a prototype flexible manufacturing system using the RTPNS is described.<>