Title: Agent-based decision support system for dynamic scheduling of a flexible manufacturing system

Authors: Zhou Bing-hai, Wang Shi-jin, Xi Li-feng

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, PR China. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, PR China. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, PR China

Abstract: In this paper, an agent-based Decision Support System (DSS) for the effective dynamic scheduling of a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) is proposed. The proposed DSS mainly includes six components: User Interface Agent (UIA), Criteria And Rules Selection Agent (CRSA), Performance Evaluation Agent (PEA), Scheduling Decision Selection Agent (SDSA), FMS database and Scheduling Knowledge Base (SKB). Functions of each component are discussed and a corresponding prototype system is developed. Finally, some examples are used to illustrate the decision process and to study the performance of the FMS under different dynamic disturbances.

Keywords: flexible manufacturing systems; FMS scheduling; dynamic scheduling; decision support systems; agent-based DSS; scheduling policy; agent-based systems; multi-agent systems; MAS.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2008.019489

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2008 Vol.32 No.1, pp.47 - 62

Published online: 14 Jul 2008 *

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