Coordination of hierarchical systems

A recently developed approach (L. Acar, U. Ozguner, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man & Cyb. vol.20, no.4, p.791-803, 1990) to generating functional and structural hierarchies for large dynamic systems is further analyzed. The structural hierarchy decomposes the mathematical description of the system into subsystems. The decomposition is based on the relation of certain parameters and variables to others. Functional hierarchies arrange decision-making and problem-solving processes as a hierarchical tree. In this tree, goals are decomposed into subgoals such that the achievement of the subgoals contributes to the achievement of the original goal. It is assumed that the complete system is given with the knowledge about its functional behavior. The system is decomposed into its physical components. Then, functions are associated with the decomposed components to achieve a structurally and functionally decomposed system. Three examples from very different areas are provided