Rapid prototyping of control software for automated manufacturing systems using supervisory control theory

Supervisory control (SC) theory, coupled with the TCT modeling package (Wonham, 1994), is theoretically powerful and practically useful. However, due to the lack of an efficient method to transform the SC model into operational control logic, this theory has found limited applications in manufacturing. This paper presents a method to rapidly prototype operational control software for an automated manufacturing system using SC theory. Given the control specification of a manufacturing workcell, an SC model can be developed using the TCT package. By transforming the SC model into an MPSG-based model (Smith, 1992), the modified MPSG builder can generate the corresponded control logic in the form of C++ source codes. After the equipment-level control and information handler functions are inserted into the control logic, an executable computer-based controller on the shop floor can be immediately compiled.