2.4 GR-TNCES Formalism
The formalism GR-TNCES is recently introduced in
(Khlifi et al., 2015). It is used to model and control
memory and energy resources of adaptive
probabilistic systems as well as discrete event
systems. A GR-TNCES is a network of R-TNCES
(Zhang et al., 2013). It is a structure G = ∑ R-TNCES
where R-TNCES = (B, R), such that R is the control
module consisting of a set of reconfiguration
functions {r
1
,…,r
n
} managed under a memory and
energy controllers, and B is the behavior module
which is a union of multi TNCES (Zhang et al., 2013),
represented as follows: B = (P, T, F, QW, CN, EN,
DC, V, Z
0
) where:
(i). P (respectively, T) is a non-empty finite set of
places (respectively, transitions);
(ii). F is a set of flow arcs with F ⊆ (P × T) ∪ (T ×
P);
(iii). QW=(Q,W) where Q: F→[0, 1] is the
probability on the arcs and W: (P × T) ∪ (T ×
P) →{0, 1} maps a weight to a flow arc.
Specifically, W(x, y) > 0 if (x, y) ∈ F, and W(x,
y)=0 otherwise, where x, y ∈ P ∪ T;
(iv). CN (respectively, EN) is a set of condition
(respectively, event) signals with CN ⊆ (P × T)
(respectively, EN ⊆(T × T));
(v). DC: F ⊆ (P × T) → [l, h] is a superset of time
constraints on output arcs;
(vi). V: T→{∨, ∧} maps an event-processing mode
(AND or OR) to each transition;
(vii). Z
0
= (T
0
, D
0
) where T
0
: P → {0, 1} is the initial
marking and D
0
: P → {0} is the initial clock
position.
Let TN = P ×T ×F ×QW ×CN ×EN ×DC ×V be the
set of all feasible net structures that can be performed
by a system. Let
•r (respectively, r•) denotes the
original (respectively, target) R-TNCES before
(respectively, after) the reconfiguration function r is
applied, where TN(
•r), TN(r•) ∈ TN. Each
reconfiguration is controlled by the controller module
R. It is a structure: R = {Condition Cond, Probability
Q, Energy E’, Memory M’, Structure S, State X}. A
reconfiguration function r is a structure r = (Cond, Q,
E
0
’, M
0
’, S, X), where:
(i). Cond: CN → {true, false}: the precondition
Cond of r can be evaluated to true or false and
can be modeled by external condition signals;
(ii). Q: F → [0..1]: TNCES probability which
could be a functional (internal to the TNCES)
or a reconfiguration probability. It is a new
parameter for GR-TNCES;
(iii). E
0
’: P → [0..max]: controls the energy
requirements by the TNCES to the energy
reserves;
(iv). M
0
’: P → [0..max]: controls the memory
requirements by the TNCES to the memory
reserves;
(v). S: TN(•r) → TN(r•): is the structure
modification instruction of the reconfiguration
scenario;
(vi). X: last state (•r) → initial state (r•): is the state
processing function, where last state (•r)
(respectively, initial state (r•)) denotes the last
(respectively, initial) state of •r (respectively,
r•) before (respectively, after) the application
of r.
A state machine specified by an R-TNCES, which is
called Structure_changer, is introduced to describe
the control module. In this state machine, each place
corresponds to a specific TNCES of the GR-TNCES
model. Thus, each transition corresponds to a
reconfiguration function. A place sp gets a token
implies that the TNCES to which sp corresponds, is
selected. If a transition st (∀ st ∈ sp•) fires, then it
removes the token away from sp and brings it into a
place sp’ with sp’ ∈ st•. Firing st implies that a
reconfiguration function is applied. Then, the TNCES
is changed into another one corresponding to sp’. The
Structure_changer is formalized as follows:
Structure_changer = (P, T, F, Q, E’, M’)
where ∀
t ∈ T, |•t| = |t•| =1, and only one TNCES is
performed at any time. Each place of this structure
contains the whole information about the
corresponding TNCES e.g. its energy and memory
requirements (number of states in this TNCES). Thus,
this formalism will be used to model the system and
its resources. The tool is used to simulate the model
and evaluate its energy resources.
3 TEST CASE: SKID CONVEYOR
Skid conveyors are one type of transport systems that
are widely used in the automotive industry.
Transporting a body in the paint shop or transporting
chassis from one workstation to another in the final
assembly are typical use cases. For this purposes, we
use an extended skid conveyor system, which is one
part of the automated commissioning line built up in