Development and testing of control software for Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Mathematical and computational aspects of software for the control of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) are discussed. Task relations of job-shop scheduling are modelled and the fundamental state classes of tasks are investigated in order to improve the reliability of the software and to increase its adaptability to the changing (technological) requirements of applications. A method for testing control software is presented. A workshop controlled by a CAM control workstation is substituted by a plant emulator. The emulator software consisting of a Petri net simulator (which models the machines of a plant) and a communication program (synchronizing the exchange of massages) represents a real-time test environment for such a control software system like an FMS Controller.