Optimal supervisory control of regular languages

This paper presents an algorithm for optimal control of regular languages, realized as deterministic finite state automata (DFSA), with (possible) penalty on event disabling. A signed real measure quantifies the behavior of controlled sublanguages based on a state transition cost matrix and a characteristic vector as reported in an earlier publication. The performance index for the proposed optimal policy is obtained by combining the measure of the supervised plant language with the cost of disabled controllable event(s). Synthesis of this optimal control policy requires at most n iterations, where n is the number of states of the DFSA model generated from the unsupervised regular language. The computational complexity of the optimal control synthesis is polynomial in n. The control algorithms are illustrated with an application example of a twin-engine surveillance aircraft.