Integrated design-to-control approach for holonic manufacturing systems
Next generation manufacturing systems will be integrated networks of distributed resources simultaneously capable of combined knowledge and material processing. These manufacturing systems will be required to be agile, flexible, and fault-tolerant. The objective of this research is to define a generic open architecture for such kind of distributed manufacturing systems, especially for holonic manufacturing systems (HMS). This paper will address issues associated with HMS, and propose a reference architecture based on a design-to-control concept. The primary focus will be given to the collaborative and integrated design-to-control approach based on machining feature, agent technology, and function block standards. Emphasis is also extended and given to metamorphic process planning and control of HMS using multi-agent negotiation and cooperation. The proposed approach, together with the open architecture, shows much promise for improving the entire manufacturing system performance under the ever-changing real-time and distributed shop floor environments.
hms machining feature agent technology function block intelligent control