Achieving fault tolerance in factory automation systems by dynamic configuration

A model for automated manufacturing suited for achieving fault-tolerant production is presented. It is shown that the configuring of an automated manufacturing system can be viewed as three different kinds of configuration, namely, hardware configuration, work configuration, and mission configuration. These three configurations will serve as the basis for constructing algorithms for flexible manufacturing system control. Fault tolerance can be achieved through dynamic reconfiguration of the system. Together with a graphical editor based on the GRS (general recursive system) model, the dynamic configuration model will be a powerful and convenient tool