Title: Simulating the generic job shop as a multi-agent system

Authors: R. Zhou, H.P. Lee, A.Y.C. Nee

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore

Abstract: A model combining Discrete Event System (DES) and Multi-Agent System (MAS) is proposed to simulate a real-time job shop so that it can work as a test bed to systematically study the performance of control rules and algorithms in dynamic job shop scheduling. A definition of a generic job shop is given considering dynamic events, shop floor layout and the Material Handling System (MHS). It is first simulated as a DES and then implemented as an MAS so that data recording and analysis can be naturally distributed to the most related entities and events can be executed simultaneously at different locations. The state changes of agents and the communication among them are illustrated with state charts and sequential diagrams in Unified Modelling Language (UML). The proposed model is validated with a case study through statistical analysis and comparison with reported works.

Keywords: job shop simulation; discrete event system; DES; multi-agent systems; MAS; UML state chart; sequential diagram; agent-based systems; job shop scheduling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISTA.2008.016357

International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications, 2008 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.5 - 33

Published online: 22 Dec 2007 *

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