DEVSFrameworkforModelling,Simulation,Analysis,andDesignof
HybridSystems
BernardP.Zeigler
ElectricalandComputerEngineering
TheUniversityofArizona
Tucson,AZ,U.S.A.
HaeSangSongandTagGonKim
DepartmentofElectricalEngineering
KoreaAdvancedInstituteofScienceandTechnology
Taejon - ,Korea
HerbertPraehofer
SystemsTheoryandInformationEngineering
JohannesKeplerUniversityofLinz
A- Linz,Austria
Abstract
WemakethecasethatDiscreteEventSystemSpecication(DEVS)isauniversalformalismfor
discreteeventdynamicalsystems(DEDS).DEVSoersanexpressiveframeworkformodelling,design,
analysisandsimulationofautonomousandhybridsystems.WereviewsomeknownfeaturesofDEVS
anditsextensions.WethenfocusontheuseofDEVStoformulateandsynthesizesupervisorylevel
controllers.
Introduction
Formaltreatmentofdiscreteeventdynamicalsystemsisreceivingevermoreattention[].Work
onamathematicalfoundationofdiscreteeventdynamicmodelingandsimulationbeganinthe s
[,,]whenDEVS(discreteeventsystemspecication)wasintroducedasanabstractformalism
fordiscreteeventmodeling.Becauseofitssystemtheoreticbasis,DEVSisauniversalformalismfor
discreteeventdynamicalsystems(DEDS).Indeed,DEVSisproperlyviewedashort-handtospecify
systemswhoseinput,stateandoutputtrajectoriesarepiecewiseconstant[].Thestep-liketransitions
inthetrajectoriesareidentiedasdiscreteevents.
Recently,interestinhybridsystems(mixeddiscrete-continuous)systemshasbeengrowing.Such
systemsareprominentinsuchareasasintelligentcontrol[,]andreactivesystemdesign[].This
articleproposesthatDEVS-basedsystemstheoryprovidesasound,generalframeworkwithinwhichto
addressmodelling,simulation,design,andanalysisissuesforhybridsystems.
Fig.showsthebasicapproachtohybridsystemsresearchproposedhere.Webrieyaddressthe
ideasraisedinthisgure.
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Figure:DEVS-CenteredHybridSystemsResearch
. Modelling
Discreteeventmodellinghasitsorigininjobshopschedulingsimulationsinoperationsresearch.
Morerecentlycontroltheoristsdevelopedtheirowndiscreteeventformalisms[].Theuniversalityclaims
oftheDEVSjustcitedareaddressedbycharacterizingtheclassofdynamicalsystemswhichcanbe
representedbyDEVSmodels.PrahoferandZeigler(inpress)showedthatanycausaldynamicalsystem
whichhaspiecewiseconstantinputandoutputsegmentscanberepresentedbyDEVS.Wecallthisclass
ofsystemsDEVS-Representable[].Inparticular,DierentialEquationSpeciedSystems(DESS)are
usuallyusedtorepresenttheplant(systemundercontrol)inhybridsystemsandarecontrolledby
high-level,symbolic,event-drivencontrolschemes.Sensingandactuationinsuchsystemsareevent-
likeandtheyhavepiecewiseconstantinputandoutputtrajectorieswhenviewedwithintheframeof
theirsensing/actuatorinterface.Consequently,withinsuchaninterface,theplantisrepresentableby
aDEVS.Likewise,thecontrollerhasnaturalDEVSrepresentation.
Closureundercoupling[, ]isadesirablepropertyforsubclassesofdynamicalsystemssinceit
guaranteesthatcouplingofclassinstancesresultsinasysteminthesameclass.TheclassofDEVS-
representabledynamicalsystemsisclosedundercoupling.Thisjustieshierachical,modularconstruc-
tionofbothDEVSmodelsandthe(continuousordiscrete)counterpartsystemstheyrepresent.
. Simulation
DEV&DESSisanextensionoftheDEVSformalismforcombineddiscrete/continuousmodelingand
simulation[ ,].DEV&DESSincludesboththeDEVSandDESSclassesofsystems.
Inaddition
itprovidesameansofspecifyingsystemswithinteractingcontinuousanddiscretetrajectories.The
formalismisfullyexpressiveofhybridsystemsinthatitisshowntobeclosedundercoupling.
In
particular,theresultantsofcoupledmodelsthatcontaincomponentsofeitherclassareexpressibelas
basicmodelsintheformalism.Sinceitisalsoimplementedinsoftware,DEV&DESSoersapowerful
modelingformalismforsimulatinghybridsystems.
. DesignandAnalysis
RamageandWonham[]weretherstcontroltheoriststodevelopanapproachtodesigningdiscrete
eventcontrollers.Theymodelledtheplantasanautomatonandusedlanguagetheorytodesigna
controllerthatforcestheplanttoexhibitbehaviorconsistentwithgivenobjectives.Thegoalofthis
paperistodemonstratetheapplicabilityofDEVSasunifyingframeworkforhybridcontrol.Wedoso
byreformulatingtheRamage-WonhamapproachtocontrollerdesignwithintheDEVSformalism.The
resultingmethodologyisbothmoregeneralandmoreintuitivelyappealingthantheoriginal.Sinceit
isuniversalforgeneralpiecewiseconstantsystems,DEVS,canrepresenttiminginformationaboutthe
plantthateludesanautomatonformulation.Suchinformationcanbeemployedtoimprovecontroller
designs.Moreover,DEVSdistinguishesbetweeninternalandexternalstatetransitions,afactthat
enablesustoderiveacontrollerDEVSfromaplantDEVSmodelinaratherdirectmanner.
SincetheappealoftheproposedmethodologyrestsupontheuniversalityofDEVSrepresentation,we
rstbrieyreviewsystemsformalismsandtheirmappingintoDEVS.ThenwediscusstheDEVS-based
methodologyfordiscreteeventcontrolofhybridplants.Weconcludewithopenquestionsforfuture
research.
ReviewofGeneralDynamicalSystemsandDEVS
. GeneralDynamicalSystems
Basedon[,,]wedeneageneraldynamicalsystemasfollows:
DS=(T;X;Y;;Q;;)
withTisthetimebase,
Xisthesetofinput-values,
Yisthesetofoutput-values,
isthesetofadmissibleinputsegments!:!XoverTandXandisclosedunder
concatenationaswellasunderleftsegmentation[],
Qisthesetofstates;
:Q!Qistheglobalstatetransitionfunction,
:QX!Yistheoutputfunction.
TheglobalstatetransitionfunctionofthegeneraldynamicalsystemDShastofulllthefollowing
properties[,]:
Consistency:(q;!(t;t>)=q;
()
Semigroupproperty:!:!X;t:(q;!)=((q;!);!);()
Causality:!;!ift:!(t)=!(t)
then(q;!)=(q;!):()
Causality,thesemigrouppropertyandclosureofadmissiblesegmentsunderleftsegmentationjusties
deningthestatetrajectoryresultingfromeveryinitialstateqQandinputsegment!:!
Xinthefollowingway:
STRAJq;!:!Q
with
tSTRAJq;!(t)=(q;!):
()
SimilarlywedenetheoutputtrajectoryOTRAJq;!:!Yby:foreveryinitialstateqQ,
inputsegment!:!Xandt
OTRAJq;!(t)=(STRAJq;!(t);!(t)):
()
Nowtheinput/outputbehaviorRDSofthedynamicalsystemisgivenby
()
RDS=f(!;OTRAJq;!):!;qQg:
. TheDiscreteEventSystemSpecication(DEVS)Formalism
AnatomicDEVSisastructure[,,]
DEVS=(XM;YM;S;ext;int;;ta)
whereXMisthesetofinputs,
YMisthesetofoutputs,
Sisthesetofsequentialstates,
ext:QX!Sistheexternalstatetransitionfunction,
int:S!Sistheinternalstatetransitionfunction,
:S!Yistheoutputfunction,
ta:S!R+ [fgisthetimeadvancefunction.
ADEVSspeciesadynamicalsystemDSinthefollowingway:
thetimebaseTistherealnumbersR;
X=XM[fg,i.e.,theinputsetofthedynamicalsystemistheinputsetoftheDEVStogether
withasymbol=XMspecifyingthenon-event,
Y=YM[fg,i.e.,theoutputsetofthedynamicalsystemistheoutputsetoftheDEVStogether
with.
Q=f(s;e):sS; eta(s)gthesetofstatesofthedynamicalsystemconsistsofthe
sequentialstatesoftheDEVSpairedwitharealnumberegivingtheelapsedtimesincethelast
event,
theadmissibleinputsegmentsisthesetofallDEVS-segmentsoverXandT(DEVS-segments
[]arecharacterizedbythefactthatforany!:!X,thereisonlyanitenumber
ofeventtimesf;;:::;ng;iwith!(i)=.Asaspecialcase,aso-called
segmenthasnoevents.
foranyDEVSinputsegment!:!Xandstateq=(s;e)attimettheglobalstate
transitionfunctionisdenedasfollows:
(q;!)=
(s;e+tt)
()
ife+tt