Controller design for flow networks of switched servers with setup times: The Kumar‐Seidman case as an illustrative example
Erjen Lefeber, J.E. Rooda · Asian Journal of Control · 2008
Abstract In this paper we consider the control of a reentrant manufacturing system with setup times, as introduced by Kumar and Seidman. In most literature on control of a network of servers with setup times, first a policy is introduced and then the resulting network behavior is analyzed. In manufacturing systems the network typically is fixed and givena priori. Furthermore, optimal steady state behavior is desired. Therefore, this paper follows a different approach. First optimal steady state network behavior is determined, then a feedback controller is presented which makes the network converge towards this desired steady state behavior. The resulting controller is a non‐distributed controller: each server needs global state information. For a manufacturing system this is not a problem, since global information typically is available. Finally it is shown that a distributed controller (each server needs only local state information) can also be used to achieve the same result. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society