Towards the Formal Implementation of Hierarchical Discrete-event Controllers in Automated Manufacturing Systems

This work presents how the deployment process of hierarchical discrete-event controllers is affected by the selection of a design method. To illustrate this, the design of an architecture for the coordination layer of a prototype automated manufacturing system (AMS) is carried out with two different methods. The resulting architectures implement the same functionality in the AMS. The Formal Method B is employed to support the hierarchy deployment with the aim of ensuring the preservation of structural properties (i.e controllability and hierarchical consistency). However, different software architectures are obtained and a discussion on their advantages and disadvantages is also presented.