Multi-agent Systems vs IEC 61499 for Holonic Resource Control in Reconfigurable Systems

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems hold promise to satisfy the requirements of dynamic and competitive modern manufacturing. A holonic control architecture is often used for the control of such reconfigurable systems. In this research, software agents and IEC 61499 function blocks are evaluated as alternative strategies for implementing holonic control for a modular feeder subsystem of an experimental Reconfigurable Assembly System. The strategies are evaluated through four reconfiguration experiments. The evaluation is based on qualitative and quantitative performance measures. The results show that agent-based control is more suitable in this specific case study.