Automatic generation of Petri net models from logic control specifications

There is a growing need to use advanced and formal methodologies for design and synthesis of supervisory controllers for flexible manufacturing systems. This paper presents an algorithm to generate automatically the Petri net (PN) models from logic control specifications. Traditional methods such as ladder logic diagrams and high-level programming languages proved inefficient to develop control software and very difficult to debug and maintain. PNs were demonstrated as an effective tool for logic controller design by several researchers and industrial practitioners. One critical task in this development is to design Petri net models given the sequence control specifications. This paper presents a PN design algorithm which mainly consists in: (1) dividing the sequence of events into groups, (2) building the PN model via top-down refinement, and (3) merging the common places/paths within the model