A modeling language for Petri net based factory automation systems

In this paper, the authors propose a modeling language for Petri net-based factory automation systems. They have proposed a methodology based on Petri nets, which can perform a unified design from modeling to actualization of a Petri net controller (PNC) for processing the nets quickly. All objects are described by the Petri nets for analyzing the whole of the system. The Petri nets can be evaluated visually because of their being able to represent the nets to the graph. However it is difficult to design a large system because the nets are complicated even in a small system. Therefore, a language for describing Petri nets easily is needed. Then, the authors propose a Petri net description language (PNDL). The PNDL consists of upper and lower level languages. The first is for modeling a system by connecting modules consisted of places and transitions. Its description can be directly treated on PNCs. The second is for distinguishing states and controls of a system, and for describing concurrent processing by combining serial processing. Its source is compiled first; as a result, programs described by the PNDL can be treated by PNCs, and systems are actualized easier and faster