Efficient Messaging through Cluster Coordinators in Decentralized Controlled Material Flow Systems

• Main Authors: Lieberoth-Leden Christian, Regulin Daniel, Günthner W.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2016-01-01
• Series: MATEC Web of Conferences
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20168106005

The modularization of the hard- and software is one approach handling the demand for increasing flexibility and changeability of automated material flow systems. A control that is distributed across several different hardware controllers leads to a great demand for coordination between the modules while planning for example transports, especially if there is a mutual dependency between the modules on the executing tasks. Short-term changes in planning often initiate a rescheduling chain reaction, which causes a high communication load in the system. In the presented approach, module clusters with a centralized coordinator are automatically formed out of multiple modules and substitutional take over the surrounding communication for the modules. As a result, they minimize exchanged messages by focusing on the essential information.