A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO CONCURRENT PROGRAMMING
BASED ON METHODS FOR THE SUPERVISORY CONTROL OF DISCRETE-EVENT DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS
Our research has initially focused on supervisory control methods based on Petri net models for the
system to be controlled and the supervisor. Below is a brief description of an NSF supported project on
the topic:
A Supervisory Control Approach to Concurrent Programming
In Collaboration with LeTourneau University (Marian Iordache)
Summary
In the context of concurrency, programming is complicated by a number of issues that need to be
addressed, such as mutual exclusion, liveness, and fairness. Petri nets (PNs) are formal models developed
in Computer Science for the modeling of concurrent systems. In Control Systems, PNs have been used
in the context of supervisory control (SC) of discrete event systems (DES) and powerful theoretical
results have been developed. However, these results have not yet been systematically applied to Computer
Science problems for which PNs were created. This research would apply SC tools to the automatic
synthesis of programming code based on high-level supervisory control program specifications. SC is
of interest because various desirable features of programs can be seen in terms of supervisory control
specifications.
The goal of the research is to reduce programming effort by having more of the higher level
requirements implemented automatically by the SC tools. While SC methods have been used
to obtain control software, neither the application to the synthesis of concurrent programs
nor the application of PN based SC methods have been done so far. PNs are natural models
of concurrency that allow the use of a number of efficient supervisory control methods,
without excluding other approaches. Another new feature of the work is the extraction of a SC
specification from a specification language. This topic is of interest in order to obtain compact
and easy to develop specifications, hiding the size of the underlying DES models and the
technical details involved in the formulation of SC problems. Finally, the research is unique in
the way it handles the SC, in an attempt to take advantage of multiple methods available in the
literature.
The programming code produced by the SC tools is correct by construction and the programmer
has only to manage simpler high-level specifications. The research pursued represents a fresh
and novel approach to writing concurrent programs and it involves software development and
research on supervisory control methods, specification languages, and code generation strategies.
On one hand, the project provides a step forward towards a higher level of automation in the
development of concurrent programs. On the other hand, this project will provide a platform
for testing, comparing, and developing DES methods in general. Parts of the project
will involve students at undergraduate level, will also benefit undergraduate students via
undergraduate research and design projects. A major part of the proposed work is being carried
out at a primarily undergraduate institution.
PUBLICATIONS
SOFTWARE
ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Supervisory Control of Discrete Event Systems
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Introduction & Surveys
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Supervisory Control
- On the Limitations of Liveness in Software Models - Iordache, Antsaklis - CDC - 2010
- Concurrent Programming Synthesis Based on Supervisory Control - Iordache, Antsaklis - 2010 ACC - 2010
- Petri Nets and Programming: A Survey - Iordache, Antsaklis - 2009 ACC - 2009
- Decentralized Supervision of Petri Nets - Iordache, Panos J. Antsaklis - IEEE TAC - 2006
- Reduction of the Supervisor Design Problem with Firing Vector Constraints - Iordache, Antsaklis - WODES '06 - 2006
- A Structural Approach to the Enforcement of Language and Disjunctive Constraints - Iordache, Antsaklis - ACC '05 - 2005
- Synthesis of Supervisors Enforcing Firing Vector Constraints in Petri Nets - Iordache, Antsaklis - ISIS Technical Report - 2002
- Design of T-Liveness Enforcing Supervisors in Petri Nets - Iordache, Antsaklis - TAC - 2003
- Synthesis of Deadlock Prevention Supervisors using Petri Nets - Iordache, Moody, Antsaklis - IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation - 2002
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DES Books