Control of Discrete-Event Systems, 2013
Automata and Petri Net Perspectives
Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences Series, Vol. 433

Control of Discrete-event Systems provides a survey of the most important topics in the discrete-event systems theory with particular focus on finite-state automata, Petri nets and max-plus algebra. Coverage ranges from introductory material on the basic notions and definitions of discrete-event systems to more recent results. Special attention is given to results on supervisory control, state estimation and fault diagnosis of both centralized and distributed/decentralized systems developed in the framework of the Distributed Supervisory Control of Large Plants (DISC) project. Later parts of the text are devoted to the study of congested systems though fluidization, an over approximation allowing a much more efficient study of observation and control problems of timed Petri nets. Finally, the max-plus algebraic approach to the analysis and control of choice-free systems is also considered. Control of Discrete-event Systems provides an introduction to discrete-event systems for readers that are not familiar with this class of systems, but also provides an introduction to research problems and open issues of current interest to readers already familiar with them. Most of the material in this book has been presented during a Ph.D. school held in Cagliari, Italy, in June 2011.

From the Contents: Part I Modeling of Engineering Phenomena by Finite Automata.- Languages, decidability and Complexity. Languages, Decidability and Complexity.- Supervisory Control with Complete Observation. Supervisory Control with Partial Observation.- Observers with Automata.- Part II Introduction to Petri Nets.- Control of Petri Nets with Language Specifications.- Diagnosis of Petri Nets.- Diagnosis with Unfolding.- Structural Methods for the Control of Discrete-event Systems: The Case of the Resource Allocation Problem.- Timed and Time Nets.- Diagnosis of Petri Nets with Time.

Carla Seatzu is an Assistant Professor of Automatic Control at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Cagliari, Italy. She received the Laurea degree in electrical engineering from the University of Cagliari, Italy in 1996, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering and computer science from the same university in 2000. In April 2011 she obtained the national habilitation as Associate Professor. Her research interests include discrete-event systems, hybrid systems, Petri nets, networked control systems, control of mechanical systems. She has published more than 140 papers and one textbook on these topics. She was Chair of the National Organizing Committee of ADHS'06 (2nd IFAC Conf. on the Analysis and Design of Hybrid Systems) and member of the International Program Committee of around 40 international conferences. She is associate editor of the international journal Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems and Applications (Elsevier) and associate editor of the Conference Editorial Board of the IEEE Control System Society; she is co-chair of the IEEE IES Technical Committee on Factory Automation - Subcommittee on Industrial Automated Systems and Controls.
Manuel Silva Suárez is full Professor of System Engineering and Automatic Control in the Computer Science and System Engineering Department of the University of Zaragoza. He has been active in the area of discrete-event systems since the late 1970s, being (co)author of several books. He has published more than two hundred papers on modelling, analysis (verification and performance evaluation), synthesis (different kinds of control approaches) and implementation (eventually fault-tolerant) of Petri nets as well as a few on process algebras and their relation to net models and analysis techniques. Recently, he has been particularly interested in the fluidification of Discrete Event Systems. He has participated actively in the organization of more than one hundred internatio