As flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) become a reality, the need for efficient, reliable, yet inexpensive, distributed communications becomes crucial. Local Area Networks (LANs), such as MAP, are rapidly emerging as the logical choice for integrating the process level of the automated factory. What makes the performance analysis and design of these networks unique, is the nature of the traffic being carried. Data traffic used for control must meet stringent real-time requirements, which are unlike the time variations accepted for the time-sharing use of a LAN. In this paper, we use a subclass of Petri nets to model the dynamic performance of the automated factory LAN. This subclass, which can be best described as timed concurrent finite state machines, gives the FMS designer the ability to model the various asynchronous, concurrent control processes and carry out a dynamic performance evaluation.

Design tools are needed to study advanced robot controller architectures. These tools must provide capabilities beyond simulation of linear differential equations used for designing PID controls. Other design parameters, such as interprocess communication delays, computational delays, interprocessor bus structures and operating system services, need to be simulated. In this paper, the use of two simulation tools for modeling the next generation of robot controller architectures is discussed. First, the Hierarchical Control System Emulator (HCSE) is described as a tool for evaluating the performance of robot controller architectures. Second, the commercially available software package, SIMNON, that simulates non-linear differential and difference equations is discussed in its application to modeling robot dynamics.