Decomposing Controllers into Non-conflicting Distributed Controllers

In this article we present an application of decompositions of automata to obtain distributed controllers. The decomposition technique is derived from the classical method of partitions. Tiffs is then applied to the domain of discrete event systems. We show that it is possible to decompose a monolithic controller into smaller controllers which are non-conflicting. This is derived from the notion of decompositions via partitions. Some global state information is necessary to ensure that the joint behaviour of the component automata is identical to the original controller. The global state Ifffomtation required is identical to the global information present in Zielonka asynchronous automata. The joint behaviour of the component automata is shown to be non-conflicting.