A novel approach to the modeling and analysis of an FMS (flexible manufacturing system) is presented, focusing on shop-floor control processes. This approach is based on concurrent logic programming, which uses the theoretical foundation of communicating sequential processes and guarded commands with nondeterminacy. The modeling approach is implemented using Flat Concurrent Prolog (FCP) on a Sun workstation or on a VAX machine. The properties of concurrent logic programming, as demonstrated by using FCP, include: (1) hierarchical description; (2) support for timing specifications; (3) modeling of concurrency and synchronization; (4) support for generic modeling; (5) facilitation of data transfer and complex communication; (6) capability of performance evaluation; (7) capability of static and dynamic analysis; (8) debugging capabilities; and (9) simulation ability.>

The flat concurrent Prolog (FCP) language, which enables the implementation of synchronization through data flow, communication through shared variables, parallelism through the reduction of the AND components in the clause's body, and indeterminacy through guarded commands, is discussed. It is shown that FCP, used in conjunction with Petri net methods, forms a powerful tool in the modeling of parallel systems that involve concurrency. The simulation of systems represented by various types of Petri nets is achieved using the reduction process of FCP. AND parallelism supports free competition among conflicting enabled transitions. A structural analysis of systems is provided using the metaprogramming technique.>

The possibility of developing hardware description languages (HDLs) based on the principles of logic programming is discussed. The specific logic programming language used to demonstrate this possibility is Flat Concurrent Prolog (FCP). It is shown explicitly how FCP naturally satisfies the commonly accepted fundamental requirements of a hardware description language. It is then demonstrated how FCP overcomes known disadvantages of the highly acclaimed VHDL. Some other parallel logic programming languages beside FCP are also presented briefly, and the possibility of using them for hardware description is discussed.>