Deadlock-free scheduling for flexible manufacturing systems using Petri nets and heuristic search

• Deadlock control and scheduling for flexible manufacturing system is integrated.
• Deadlock control policy is embedded into the heuristic search algorithm.
• A deadlock-free scheduling algorithm for flexible manufacturing system is proposed.

Deadlock-free control and scheduling are two different problems for flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). They are significant for improving the behaviors of the systems. Based on the Petri net models of FMSs, this paper embeds deadlock control policies into heuristic search algorithm, and proposes a deadlock-free scheduling algorithm to minimize makespan for FMSs. Scheduling is performed as heuristic search in the reachability graph of the Petri net. The searching process is guided by a heuristic function based on firing count vectors of state equation for the Petri net. By using the one-step look-ahead method in the optimal deadlock control policy, the safety of a state is checked. Experimental results are provided to show effectiveness of the proposed heuristic search approach in deadlock-free scheduling for FMSs.