A new approach to modelling, control and simulation of knowledgeable manufacturing cell

The running of the knowledgeable manufacturing cell (KMC) is a typical discrete event dynamic process. Methods used to model and analyse discrete event dynamic systems include Petri net and automata theory. In this paper, a new matrix-automaton is proposed to model the KMC and solve the task control problems existing in the KMC. The automaton is of structured property and can be used to analyse the dynamic performance of the KMC. Stochastic dynamic programming is used to derive the optimal task control strategy of the automaton, and a simulation method and program are proposed to simulate the running of the KMC. The matrix-automaton model of an experimental KMC including m manufacturing agents and n classes of workpieces is built and solved by the methods in this paper. Compared with the random control principle, the objective function value of the control strategy in this paper is obviously lower, which testifies the validity and feasibility of the control strategy.