A linear-system-theoretic view of discrete-event processes and its use for performance evaluation in manufacturing. (English) Zbl 0557.93005

Cohen, Guy; Dubois, Didier; Quadrat, Jean Pierre; Viot, Michel

IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 30, 210-220 (1985).

In the paper an analogy between general linear systems and a class of discrete-event systems is developed. Following this analogy, it is indicated that deterministic discrete-event systems can be viewed, in the sense of some appropriate algebra, as linear. A state space representation of discrete-event systems is then established, and the periodical steady-state behaviour of closed discrete-event systems is determined. The problem is characterized by an eigenvalue and eigenvector equation system and solved by a shortest path type algorithm. Last, the potentiality of the approach for performance evaluation of manufacturing systems is emphasized.

Reviewer: I.Virtanen

MSC:

93A10	General systems
05C50	Graphs and linear algebra (matrices, eigenvalues, etc.)
93C05	Linear systems in control theory
68R10	Graph theory (including graph drawing) in computer science
90B30	Production models

Keywords:

general linear systems; discrete-event systems; state space representation; periodical steady-state behaviour; performance evaluation; manufacturing systems