In: Proceedings of the second IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC'02), October 6-9, 2002, Hammamet, Tunisia, Volume 3. IEEE Computer Society Press, October 2002.
Abstract: Agent-based software systems are becoming a key automation software technology for intelligent manufacturing systems. This work presents an original approach to formalise the development process of agent-based supervisory control systems. A design-validation methodology is proposed, which focuses on the seamless integration of production system's development and agent-based intelligent automation system's development processes. It is based on the use of coloured Petri net as formal specification tool, and the results of its application to a case study (an industrial installation) are investigated under functional, i.e., qualitative, and performance, i.e., quantitative, objectives.
Keywords: agent-based production systems; formal specification; coloured Petri nets; structural analysis.