Minimal sensor activation and minimal communication in discrete-event systems

This paper is an overview of the current research on minimal sensor activation and minimal communication in discrete-event systems. In problems of sensor activation agents observing a discrete-event system can turn the sensors for their observable events on or off dynamically. In problems of communication agents observing a discrete-event system can communicate event observations to one another dynamically. In both cases, a result is that the observations made by an agent are dynamic. That is, whether or not an agent observes an event or receives a communication is dependent on other factors besides membership of certain events to certain predefined sets. We survey such problems and associated works where, additionally, the use of event sensors and communication of messages must be minimized with respect to certain criteria. The application areas considered are the diagnosis, state disambiguation and state estimation of discrete-event systems.