A metamorphic control architecture for holonic systems

Next generation manufacturing systems are envisioned to be comprised of distributed network of autonomous and cooperative holonic resources. Holonic systems have an information processing part and a physical processing part to process knowledge and material simultaneously. Holonic systems are evolutionary in nature to better accomplish current system objectives. In other words the form and substance of holonic systems undergo constant transformation (metamorphosis) through out their life time. Real time control of such holonic systems requires a radically different approach from that of traditional unit level regulatory control systems.; The control requirements of holonic systems are distributed in nature. The dynamics of distributed control results in complex system behavior and requires an event driven control system. Since holonic systems are evolutionary in nature, they require both static and dynamic reconfiggurability of their control systems. Additionally, holonic systems require incorporation of intelligence into their control systems that can enhance autonomy and cooperation. The conventional centralized scan based control systems are inadequate in meeting the said control requirements of holonic systems. This necessitates a new and novel system level distributed control approach, and the control systems based on this approach are termed as metamorphic control systems.; The engineering of such software centric metamorphic control systems for dynamically reconfigurable distributed multi-sensor based holonic systems, is addressed in this dissertation. An integrated and uniform event driven control architecture is specified for various functional levels of metamorphic control system. The architecture utilizes the emerging International Electro technical Commission function block standard (IEC 1499) for industrial process measurement and control systems, to specify the requisite behavior of distributed control software components (agents).; A prototype metamorphic control system has been developed using the new architecture. The core metamorphic control mechanisms have been developed in the form of a distributed real time operating system. The function block specification is used to develop distributed control software agents and applications. A system engineering, interface has been developed for remote program development, configuration and maintenance of distributed control system. The implementation and evaluation details of this prototypical system are presented.