Identification of the unobservable behaviour of industrial automation systems by Petri nets

This paper addresses the problem of identifying the model of the unobservable behaviour of discrete event systems in the industrial automation sector. Assuming that the fault-free system structure and dynamics are known, the paper proposes an algorithm that monitors the system on-line, storing the occurred observable event sequence and the corresponding reached states. At each event observation, the algorithm checks whether some unobservable events have occurred on the basis of the knowledge of the Petri net (PN) modelling the nominal system behaviour and the knowledge of the current PN marking. By defining and solving some integer linear programming problems, the algorithm decides whether it is necessary to introduce some unobservable (silent) transitions in the PN model and provides a PN structure that is consistent with the observed event string. A case study describing an industrial automation system shows the efficiency and the applicability of the proposed algorithm.     

Fault tolerant control design via hybrid petri nets

This paper proposes a novel fault tolerant control (FTC) scheme for hybrid systems modeled by hybrid Petri nets (HPNs). The HPNs model consists of discrete and continuous PNs. The faults are represented by unobservable discrete transitions or the normal observable discrete transitions with abnormal firing time in discrete PNs. First, an observer‐based fault diagnosis method is proposed to estimate the marking in discrete places with unknown initial marking and diagnose the faulty behavior simultaneously. Then, an adaptive fault tolerant controller is designed to maintain the general mutual exclusion constraints (GMEC) of discrete PNs, and a scheme that adjusts firing speeds of continuous transitions is provided to maintain the optimality of continuous PNs. Finally, an example of an intelligent transportation system consisting of automated vehicles on a bridge is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of our developed techniques. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Synthesis of supervisors enforcing general linear constraints in Petri nets

Efficient techniques exist for the design of supervisors enforcing constraints consisting of linear marking inequalities. This note shows that without losing the benefits of the prior techniques, the class of constraints can be generalized to linear constraints containing marking terms, firing vector terms, and Parikh vector terms. We show that this extended class of constraints is more expressive. Furthermore, we show that the extended constraints can describe any supervisor consisting of control places arbitrarily connected to the transitions of a plant Petri net (PN). The supervisor design procedure we propose is as follows. For PNs without uncontrollable and unobservable transitions, a direct method for the design of a PN supervisor that is least restrictive is given. For PNs with uncontrollable and/or unobservable transitions, we reduce the problem to the design of supervisors enforcing linear marking inequalities.     

Fault detection for discrete event systems using Petri nets with unobservable transitions

In this paper we present a fault detection approach for discrete event systems using Petri nets. We assume that some of the transitions of the net are unobservable, including all those transitions that model faulty behaviors. Our diagnosis approach is based on the notions of basis marking and justification, that allow us to characterize the set of markings that are consistent with the actual observation, and the set of unobservable transitions whose firing enable it. This approach applies to all net systems whose unobservable subnet is acyclic. If the net system is also bounded the proposed approach may be significantly simplified by moving the most burdensome part of the procedure off-line, thanks to the construction of a graph, called the basis reachability graph.     

On-Line Monitoring of Large Petri Net Models Under Partial Observation

We consider a Petri Net model of the plant. The observation is given by a subset of transitions whose occurrence is always and immediately sensed by a monitoring agent. Other transitions not in this subset are silent (unobservable). Classical on-line monitoring techniques, which are based on the estimation of the current state of the plant and the detection of the occurrence of undesirable events (faults), are not suitable for models of large systems due to high spatial complexity (exponential in the size of the entire model). In this paper we propose a method based on the explanation of plant observation. A legal trace minimally explains the observation if it includes all unobservable transitions whose firing is needed to enable the observed transitions. To do so, starting from an observable transition, using backward search techniques, a set of minimal explanations is derived, which are sufficient for detecting whether a fault event must have occurred for sure in the plant or not. The technique also allows production of a set of basis markings for the estimation of the current state of the plant. The set of all possible current markings can then be characterized as the unobservable reach of these basis markings. The computational complexity of the algorithm depends on the size of the largest connected subnet which includes only unobservable transitions. This allows monitoring of plants of any size in which there is no large unobservable subnet. We also illustrate the applicability of the method for the monitoring of a class of infinite state systems, unbounded Petri Nets with unobservable trap circuits, and we show how this can be useful for distributed implementations.

Marking Estimation of Petri Nets With Silent Transitions

In this paper, we deal with the problem of estimating the marking of a labeled Petri net system based on the observation of transitions labels. In particular, we assume that a certain number of transitions are labeled with the empty string , while unique labels taken from a given alphabet are assigned to each of the other transitions. Transitions labeled with the empty string are called silent because their firing cannot be observed. Under some technical assumptions on the structure of the unobservable subnet, we formally prove that the set of markings consistent with the observed word can be represented by a linear system with a fixed structure that does not depend on the length of the observed word.     

标注Petri网中的最小初始标识估计

为获得制造系统初始化时的最小资源以实现最优资源分配,利用标注Petri网对系统进行建模,并研究标注Petri网的最小初始标识估计问题。给定一个标注Petri网,在不可观测变迁组成无环子网的情况下,基于动态规划提出一种新的最小初始标识估计算法。在观察到给定的标注序列后,放宽不可观测变迁发生个数的限制,并根据该算法构建节点的演化过程。当出现相同的发生数向量时,仅保留当前极小的初始标识估计,并通过节点的演化过程对极小初始标识估计的托肯总数进行对比。为验证算法的有效性,给出一个制造系统的标注Petri网模型实例,最终得到的最小初始标识为［1000］^T,且对应的变迁发生序列为t₁t₃t₄t₆,满足给定标注Petri网的结构要求。实验结果表明,与传统基于动态规划的算法相比,该算法获得的最小初始标识估计具有更小的托肯总数。     

Diagnosis of DES With Petri Net Models

The diagnosis of discrete event systems is strongly related to events estimation. This paper focuses on faulty behaviors modeled with ordinary Petri nets with some "fault" transitions. Partial but unbiased measurement of the places marking variation is used in order to estimate the firing sequences. The main contribution is to decide which sets of places must be observed for the exact estimation of some given firing sequences. Minimal diagnosers are defined that detect and isolate the firing of fault transitions immediately. Causality relationships and directed paths are also investigated to characterize the influence and dependence areas of the fault transitions. Delayed diagnosers are obtained as a consequence. Note to Practitioners-Structural tools are provided for the analysis of models used in the context of fault detection and isolation for discrete event systems. The systems that are concerned are either manufacturing processes, batch processes, digital devices, or communication protocols with single or multiple failures. Methods are proposed to decide, in a systematic way, if the considered failures can be detected and isolated according to the existing sensors. The obtained results can also be used by designers for sensor selection     

Diagnosis of Partially Observed Petri Net Based on Analytical Redundancy Relationships

In this paper, we design an efficient diagnosis technique for partially observed discrete event systems modeled by labeled Petri nets. The fault detection is based on analytical redundancy relationships derived from the nominal model. The decomposition of the T_un‐induced subnet to connected subgraphs allows determining the subgraphs that may contain faults. To appreciate the fault localization, a set of analytical redundancy relationships is etablished for each fault transition based on the fault model. The proposed diagnosis approach is independent of the length of the observed sequence and independent of the number of unobservable transitions. The detected faults with the proposed approach are faults which led to a change in the number of tokens in the net.     

Supervisor synthesis for discrete event systems under partial observation and arbitrary forbidden state specifications

In this paper, we consider the forbidden state problem in discrete event systems modeled by partially observed and partially controlled Petri nets. Assuming that the reverse net of the uncontrollable subnet of the Petri net is structurally bounded, we compute a set of weakly forbidden markings from which forbidden markings can be reached by firing a sequence of uncontrollable/unobservable transitions. We then use reduced consistent markings to represent the set of consistent markings for Petri nets with structurally bounded unobservable subnets. We determine the control policy by checking if the firing of a certain controllable transition will lead to a subsequent reduced consistent marking that belongs to the set of weakly forbidden markings; if so, we disable the corresponding controllable transition. This approach is shown to be minimally restrictive in the sense that it only disables behavior that can potentially lead to a forbidden marking. The setting in this paper generalizes previous work by studying supervisory control for partially observed and partially controlled Petri nets with a general labeling function and a finite number of arbitrary forbidden states. In contrast, most previous work focuses on either labeling functions that assign a unique label to each observable transition or forbidden states that are represented using linear inequalities. More importantly, we demonstrate that, in general, the separation between observation and control (as considered in previous work) may not hold in our setting.     

Generalized state equation of Petri Nets with priority

This article presents a new way of generating a generalized state equation that is useful for analyzing the token flow of the Petri Net (PN) with priority. The transition values in the firing vector as used in the conventional state equation are replaced with transition variables, which are generated by multiplying a series of firing condition functions taking the weighted inhibitor arc into account. The actual value of a transition variable is determined by taking priority and the present marking into account. The proposed state equation generalizes the conventional one by using the transition variable form and by containing the formulation of priority. Given the initial marking, the subsequent marking evolution can be determined successively from the generalized state equation as the simultaneous firings occur. A PN with deadlock is analyzed as an example to establish the validity of the generalized state equation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Design and fault diagnosis of Petri net controllers for Petri nets with uncontrollable and unobservable transitions

This paper presents a methodology for diagnosing faults of controllers which are modeled by Petri nets with uncontrollable and unobservable transitions. The inadmissible constraints with uncontrollable and unobservable transitions are transformed into admissible conditions in this method. And we can design controllers easily using reduction technique. In order to provide tolerance against faults in controllers, we embed the given Petri net controller into a larger Petri net controller that retains the functionality of original controllers, and encode the large Petri net controller. Separate redundant Petri net controllers using additional places, connections and tokens to impose invariant conditions allow the systematic detection and identification of faults via Hamming code. The proposed method is attractive because it can check faults (place faults, transition faults or mixed faults) easily. A manufacturing cell is taken as an example to illustrate the approach.     

Safe diagnosability for fault-tolerant supervision of discrete-event systems

The problem of achieving fault-tolerant supervision of discrete-event systems is considered from the viewpoint of safe and timely diagnosis of unobservable faults. To this end, the new property of safe diagnosability is introduced and studied. Standard definitions of diagnosability of discrete-event systems deal with the problem of detecting the occurrence of unobservable fault events using model-based inferencing from observed sequences of events. In safe diagnosability, it is required in addition that fault detection occur prior to the execution of a given set of forbidden strings in the failed mode of operation of the system. For instance, this constraint could be required to prevent local faults from developing into failures that could cause safety hazards. If the system is safe diagnosable, reconfiguration actions could be forced upon the detection of faults prior to the execution of unsafe behaviour, thus achieving the objective of fault-tolerant supervision. Necessary and sufficient conditions for safe diagnosability are derived. In addition, the problem of explicitly considering safe diagnosability in controller design, termed “active safe diagnosis problem”, is formulated and solved. A brief discussion of safe diagnosability for timed models of discrete-event systems is also provided.     

Firing and enabling sequences estimation for timed Petri nets

Petri nets (PNs) are useful tools for the modeling and analysis of discrete event systems. This work deals with the estimation of firing and enabling sequences for timed transition PNs with unknown time delays. The marking and reserved marking of the places are measured online. The estimation problem has exact and approximated solutions that are described. Sufficient conditions are given on the measurement accuracy of the marking and reserved marking vectors, so that the estimation of firing and enabling sequences is an exact one. If the estimation provides several solutions, the PN is extended in order to give a unique solution. Numerical aspects of the estimation are also investigated. As a consequence of this, the proposed method provides interesting tools for the modeling, performance analysis, and above all the monitoring of manufacturing systems and road traffic networks     

一种基于神经网络在线逼近器的非线性鲁棒故障诊断方法

针对一类不确定非线性动态系统，提出了一种基于神经网络在线逼近结构的鲁棒故障 检测方法．该方法通过构造神经网络通过在线逼近结构学习非线性故障特性来监测动态系统 的反常行为,当故障发生时，在线估计器可逼近各种可能的未知故障，然后对其进行诊断和 适应．神经网络权重的在线学习律没有持续激励的要求，并采用Lyapunov稳定性理论保证了 闭环误差系统一致最终有界稳定．     

Fault diagnosis of a mixing process using deep qualitative knowledge representation of physical behaviour

This paper describes an on-line fault diagnosis system which diagnoses faults in a pilot scale mixing process using on-line measurements. Fault detection and fault diagnosis is performed based on a qualitative model of the mixing process. The qualitative model provides a set of constraints for the system being diagnosed. Once it is violated, a particular fault is detected. Since most of the information used by the diagnosis system comes from on-line measurements, it is important to determine whether sensors are working normally or not before considering failures of other components. Sensor failure is mainly diagnosed from heuristic considerations, while the failures of other components are diagnosed from a procedure of hypothesis generation, qualitative simulation, and comparison. Based on a hypothesis, the behaviour of the system being diagnosed is simulated from its qualitative model and is compared with the actual measurements. Depending upon whether they conflict or not, the hypothesis is denied or retained. A new approach for reducing the ambiguity in qualitative simulation is described. Ambiguity is reduced by taking account of the information on the order of magnitude relations between different physical variables.     

Transient fault tolerance in digital systems

It is hard to shield systems effectively from transient faults (fault avoidance techniques). So some other means must be employed to assure appropriate levels of transient fault tolerance (insensitivity to transient faults). They are based on fault-masking and fault recovery ideas. Having analyzed this problem, the author identifies critical design points and outlines some practical solutions that refer to efficient on-line detectors (detecting errors during the system operation) and error handling procedures. This framework provides a basis for understanding transient fault problems in digital systems. It can be helpful in selecting optimum techniques to mask or eliminate transient fault effects in developed systems     

Deadlock avoidance policy for Petri-net modeling of flexiblemanufacturing systems with shared resources

Multiple products through a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) with limited resources can lead to deadlock. In this paper, the authors study the problem of deadlock avoidance by using the Petri net (PN) model for FMSs and introducing the concept of deadlock structure. The necessary and sufficient conditions to prevent deadlock are characterized. The authors use a state feedback restriction policy which prevents some enabled transitions from firing for avoiding deadlock in the system. In particular, when the number of any key kind of resources is greater than one, this policy is minimally restrictive and allows the maximal use of resources in the system. The authors present the PN realization of these restriction policies when the closed-loop system can be modeled by a live PN. The restriction policies can be easily implemented. An example is provided for illustration     

A distributed approach for fault detection and diagnosis based on Time Petri Nets

This paper proposes an algorithm for the model based design of a distributed protocol for fault detection and diagnosis for very large systems. The overall process is modeled as different Time Petri Net (TPN) models (each one modeling a local process) that interact with each other via guarded transitions that becomes enabled only when certain conditions (expressed as predicates over the marking of some places) are satisfied (the guard is true). In order to use this broad class of time DES models for fault detection and diagnosis we derive in this paper the timing analysis of the TPN models with guarded transitions. In this paper we also extend the modeling capability of the faults calling some transitions faulty when operations they represent take more or less time than a prescribed time interval corresponding to their normal execution. We consider here that different local agents receive local observation as well as messages from neighboring agents. Each agent estimates the state of the part of the overall process for which it has model and from which it observes events by reconciling observations with model based predictions. We design algorithms that use limited information exchange between agents and that can quickly decide “questions” about “whether and where a fault occurred?” and “whether or not some components of the local processes have operated correctly?”. The algorithms we derive allow each local agent to generate a preliminary diagnosis prior to any communication and we show that after communicating the agents we design recover the global diagnosis that a centralized agent would have derived. The algorithms are component oriented leading to efficiency in computation.