Performance management of integrated manufacturing system networks

Performance management of communication networks is critical for speed, reliability, and flexibility of information exchange between different components, subsystems, and sectors (e.g., factory, engineering design, and administration) of production process organizations in the environment of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). The objective is to improve the efficiency in handling various types of messages, e.g., control signals, sensor data and production orders, by on-line adjustment of the parameters of the network protocol. This paper presents conceptual design, development, and implementation of a performance management procedure for CIM applications. The performance management algorithm is formulated using the concepts of: (i) perturbation analysis of discrete event dynamic systems; (ii) stochastic approximation; and (iii) learning automata. The performance management procedure has been tested via emulation on a network testbed that is based on the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP). The conceptual design presented in this paper offers a step forward to bridging the gap between management standards and users' demands for efficient network operations since most standards such as ISO and IEEE address only the architecture, services, and interfaces for network management. The proposed concept for performance management can also be used as a general framework to assist design, operation, and management of flexible manufacturing systems.