Supervisor Localization for Large-Scale Discrete-Event Systems under Partial Observation

Abstract: Recently we developed partial-observation supervisor localization, a top-down approach to distributed control of discrete-event systems (DES) under partial observation. Its essence is the decomposition of the partial-observation monolithic supervisor into partial-observation local controllers for individual controllable events. In this paper we extend the partial-observation supervisor localization to large-scale DES, for which the monolithic supervisor may be incomputable. Specifically, we first employ an efficient heterarchical supervisor synthesis procedure to compute a heterarchical array of partial-observation decentralized supervisors and partial-observation coordinators. Then we localize each of these supervisors/coordinators into partial-observation local controllers. This procedure suggests a systematic approach to the distributed control of large-scale DES under partial observation. The results are illustrated by a system of automatic guided vehicles (AGV) serving a manufacturing workcell.