Timed Discrete Event Control of Parallel Production Lines with Continuous Outputs

In this contribution we present an approach to formulate and solve certain scheduling tasks for hybrid systems using timed discrete event control methods. To demonstrate our approach, we consider a cyclically operated plant with parallel reactors using common resources and a continuous output. For this class of systems, we show how to pose the control problem within a discrete event framework by modelling system components as multirate timed automata. We propose a supervisory control strategy incorporating off-line optimisation to assure safety and nonconflicting use of resources. These properties have to be achieved in the presence of a class of bounded errors/disturbances and can be verified by applying formal methods.