Controller Aggregation for Distributed Discrete-Event Supervisors on a Shared-medium Network

In our previous work, a communication protocol for the reliable communication of discrete event supervisors that are implemented on physically distinct controller devices on a shared-medium network was developed. Here, the required data exchange is captured by communication models that are algorithmically computed from an underlying hierarchical and decentralized supervisor synthesis. These communication models are particularly efficient if all synthesized supervisors are implemented on distinct controller devices. In this paper, the general case is considered, where multiple supervisors can be aggregated on each controller device. To this end, the algorithmic communication model computation is adapted in order to remove communication among supervisors on the same controller device. The benefit of the controller aggregation is illustrated by a manufacturing system case study.