A Uniform Approach to Compare Architectures in Decentralized Discrete-Event Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a unified graph-morphism-based method to compare the permissiveness of different architectures in decentralized discrete-event systems, addressing the lack of direct comparison techniques.

Contribution

It proposes a novel, uniform approach using graph morphisms to systematically compare architectures in decentralized discrete-event systems.

Findings

Provides a formal method for architecture comparison

Enables systematic analysis of architecture permissiveness

Facilitates better design choices in decentralized systems

Abstract

Solutions to decentralized discrete-event systems problems are characterized by the way local decisions are fused to yield a global decision. A fusion rule is colloquially called an architecture. Current approaches do not provide a direct way to compare existing architectures. Determining whether an architecture is more permissive than another architecture had relied on producing examples ad hoc and on individual inspiration that puts the conditions for solvability in each architecture into some form that admits comparison. In response to these research efforts, a method based on morphisms between graphs has been extracted to yield a uniform approach to compare the permissiveness of the architectures.