Do What You Know: Coupling Knowledge with Action in Discrete-Event Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces an epistemic model for decentralized discrete-event systems that directly couples supervisors' knowledge with their actions, simplifying the process of revising control strategies when conditions are unmet.

Contribution

It presents a novel formalism that integrates knowledge reasoning with control actions, enabling clearer analysis and revision of control strategies in discrete-event systems.

Findings

Conditions for problem solvability include supervisor actions

Coupling knowledge and actions aids in problem revision

Framework supports non-binary control decisions

Abstract

An epistemic model for decentralized discrete-event systems with non-binary control is presented. This framework combines existing work on conditional control decisions with existing work on formal reasoning about knowledge in discrete-event systems. The novelty in the model presented is that the necessary and sufficient conditions for problem solvability encapsulate the actions that supervisors must take. This direct coupling between knowledge and action -- in a formalism that mimics natural language -- makes it easier, when the problem conditions fail, to determine how the problem requirements should be revised.