Nonblocking coordination of discrete-event systems by control-flow nets

A well known obstruction to design based on supervisory control theory (SCT) is exponential state space explosion. Heuristics derived from system interconnection relationships may, however, prove effective in mitigating design complexity. By use of a new modeling tool, the control-flow net, we formalize several intuitive systemic properties and identify when they are applicable. On this basis it is often possible to derive transparent and robust control logic for optimal nonblocking supervisory control, without recourse to brute-force computation.