ERCN-merged nets and their analysis using siphons

This paper generalizes the modular approach proposed by Jeng and DiCesare for modeling manufacturing systems with shared resources. First the dynamic behavior of each resource is modeled separately using extended resource control nets (ERCN's), An important feature of ERCN's is their capability to express explicitly assembly operations and parallel processes, which is not possible with Resource Control Nets. Interactions among the resources are then modeled through merging of common transitions and common transition subnets, This paper provides conditions, expressed in terms of siphons, under which reversibility and liveness of the integrated model are obtained, Relations between siphons, circular structure and circular-wait are formally established.