MAS-based control in industrial controllers

Abstract

The use of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) in industry is a promising technology that provides agile and flexible solutions to tackle complexity in manufacturing companies. Unfortunately, the use of agents in industrial application is still limited due to their inherent difficulty for implementation and test. This paper presents a way to increase the visibility of MAS sharing information between agents hosted on Programmable Logic Controllers. This information exchange has been modelled using Coloured Petri Nets and implemented on an experimental platform representing the facilities of a local bottling company.

Keywords:

• industrial control
• multi-agent systems
• materials handling
• coloured Petri Nets