An effective potential field approach to FMS holonic heterarchical control

This paper points out the capabilities of a heterarchical control approach, based on potential fields, to simultaneously solve the problems of dynamic allocation and routing in a real flexible manufacturing system. This paper proposes a “Potential fields” approach, as the key reactive mechanism to handle the transient state of ADACOR designed by Leitão & Restivo (2006) and its real implementation. First, a “Potential fields” model, which takes certain constraints into account, such as dynamic transportation times and limited resource storage capacities is presented. Then, the flexibility and robustness of the approach are highlighted, with a set of scenarios performed in simulation and on a real physical system: the AIP-PRIMECA cell. These results are compared to the results provided by a mixed-integer linear model that was used to compute lower bounds.

► Potential field mechanism solves simultaneously dynamic task allocation and product routing.
► Products play an “active” role in making decisions for the allocation and routing processes.
► The proposed model was implemented on a real manufacturing cell.
► Different scenarios highlighted the scalability and the robustness of the approach.
► Results are compared to the results provided by a mixed-integer linear model.