Performance modeling

and analysis using Petri

Nets
Lecture notes By Dr. Tafesse Gebresenbet
AAU, Technology Faculty
Mechanical Engineering Department
References
1.Zurawuski et al. Petri Nets and Industrial applications: a tutorial
2. Murata, Petri Nets: properties analysis and applications
3. Zhou et al. Modeling, simulation and control of FMS, a PN approach
4. Lecture notes by Yuna Park and Renat Kopach

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Petri Nets-Introduction
 Petri Nets: Graphical and Mathematical
modeling tools
◦ graphical tool
visual communication aid
◦ mathematical tool
state equations, algebraic equations, etc
 concurrent, asynchronous, distributed,
parallel, nondeterministic and/or stochastic
systems

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Petri Nets- Informal Definition
• The graphical presentation of a Petri net is a
bipartite graph
• There are two kinds of nodes
– Places: usually model resources or partial
state of the system
– Transitions: model state transition and
synchronization
• Arcs are directed and always connect
nodes of different types

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Petri Nets-History
 1962: Adams. Petri’s dissertation (U. Darmstadt, W. Germany)
 1970: Conf. on Concurrent Systems and Parallel Computation
(MIT, USA)
 1975: Conf. on Petri Nets and related Methods (MIT, USA)
 1979: Course on General Net Theory of Processes and
Systems (Hamburg, W. Germany)
 1980: First European Workshop on Applications and Theory of
Petri Nets (Strasbourg, France)
 1985: First International Workshop on Timed Petri Nets
(Torino, Italy)

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Petri Nets- State
 In order to represent the dynamic behavior of the
modeled system, each place may hold either none
or a positive number of tokens, pictured by small
solid dots
 A token in a place can indicate whether a condition
associated with this place is true or false, therefore
the state of the system is modeled by marking the
places with tokens
 The distribution of tokens on places called PN
marking, defines the current state of the modeled
system. A PN containing tokens is called a marked

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 Petri Nets - Basics
•Basics of Petri Nets
•Petri net consist two types of nodes:

places and transitions. And arc exists

only from a place to a transition or from
a transition to a place.
•A place may have zero or more tokens.

•Graphically, places, transitions, arcs,

and tokens are represented respectively

by: circles, bars, arrows, and dots.
•

p1 p2

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Petri Nets - Basics
The graphical representation of a Place-Transition net comprises
the following components:

Places, drawn by circles. Places model conditions or objects,

e.g., a program variable. Places might contain
Tokens, drawn by black dots. Tokens represent the specific
value of the condition or object, e.g., the value of a program
variable.
Transitions, drawn by rectangles. Transitions model activities
which change the values of conditions and objects.
Arcs, specifying the interconnection of places and transitions
thus indicating which objects are changed by a certain
activity.

Place-Transition nets are bipartite graphs, i.e. we may only

connect a place to a transition or vice versa, but we must not
connect two places or transitions. This also would not make
sense, if we keep the interpretation of the components of a
Place-Transition net in mind.

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Petri Nets -Definitions
A black-and-white Petri net or ordinary PN can be formally
defined as a four-tuple1: PN = (P, T, I, O) where:

P is a finite non-empty set of places. P = {p1, p2, ...,

pn}
T is a finite non-empty set of transitions. T = {t1, t2,
..., ts}
I is an input function. I: (T x P) → {0,1}, I(t, p) = 1 if
there exists an arc from p to t. If so, p is an input place for
t;
O is an output function. O: (T x P) → {0,1}, O(t, p) =
1 if there exists an arc from t to p. If so, p is an output
place for t;

M: P → N is a marking that assigns a non-negative integer

to each place. Such a number represents the number of
tokens in the place. <P, T, I, O, M> represents a marked Petri

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Petri Nets -Definitions
 Places (p):
◦ a place is an input to a transition if there is a directed arc connecting this
place to a transition.
◦ Input places may represent the availability of resources, the transition
may represent their utilization,
◦ A place is an output to a transition if there is a directed arc connecting the
transition to the place
◦ Output places may represent the release of resources
 Transitions (t):
 Directed arcs connecting places to transitions and transitions
to places

Places p1 is an input place of transition

t1

Places p2 and p3 are output

places of transition t1

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Petri Nets -Definitions

Places: P = {p1, p2, p3}; Transitions: T = {t1, t2, t3};

Input places: I(t1) = {}, I(t2) = {p1, p2}, I(t3) = {p3};
Output places: O(t2) = {p1}, O(t2) = {p3}, O(t3) = {p2};
Initial Marking Mo = [1 1 0]

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An example
.

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Multiple arcs
.

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Enabling and Firing rule
• A transition t is called enabled in a certain
marking, if:
– For every arc from a place p to t, there exists a
distinct token in the marking
• An enabled transition can fire and result in a
new marking
• Firing of a transition tin a marking is an
atomic operation

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•

•Below is an example Petri net with two

places and one transaction.
•Transition node is ready to fire if and

only if there is at least one token at each

of its input places
•

• p1 p2
•state transition of form (1, 0) (0, 1)
•p
1 : input place p2: output place

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Enabling and Firing rule (cont.)
• Firing a transition results in two things:
1. Subtracting one token from the marking of any
place p for every arc connecting p to t
2. Adding one token to the marking of any place p
for every arc connecting t to p

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Enabling and firing rules (example)
 The enabling and firing rule are illustrated further in the
figure below. In Fig a, transition t1 is enabled as the input
place p1 of transition t1 contains two tokens, and I
(p1,t1)=2.
 The firing of the enabled transition t1 removes from the input
place p1 two tokens as I (p1,t1)=2, and deposits one token in
the output place p3, O(p3,t1)=1, and two tokens in the
output place p2, O(p2,t1)=2.

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Enabling and firing rules (example)
The following rules are used to govern the flow of tokens in a
Petri net:
Enabling Rule: A transition, t, is enabled if and only if all
the input places of transition t contains at least one
token.
Firing Rule: An enabled transition t may fire at marking
Mo. Firing an enabled transition t removes one token from
each input place of t and adds one token to each output
place of t.

A Petri net from stage k to stage k+1 can be expressed by the

following state equation: Mk+1 = Mk + Cuk
Where, Mk is the current marking state vector, uk is the control
vector and C = O - I is the incident matrix.

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Enabling and firing rules (example)
Using this notation, Petri nets can model discrete event systems
and can capture important system characteristics that occurs
in a sequence, actions that occur concurrently, actions that
compete for resources, actions that must be synchronized,
actions that occur in cycles, and actions that cannot occur
simultaneously.

The evolution of Petri net

marking

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example
.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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More about Petri Nets
p

. 1
.
1
t p t p
t
2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

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System State: Tokens and Net Marking
p

1
1
t p t p
t
2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

Mo=(M(p1), M(p2), M(p3), M(p4))=(1,1,2,1)

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 Initial State: (1,1,2,1)
p

1
1
t p t p
t
2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

t2 is enabled

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 Fire t2, New State: (1,0,3,2)
p

1
1
t p t p
t
2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

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 Fire t3, New State: (2,0,2,2)
p

1
1
t p t p
t
2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

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 Fire t1, New State: (1,2,2,2)
p

1
1
t p t p
t
2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

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 Fire t4, New State: (1,3,2,0)
p

1
1
t p t p
t
2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

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In the context of DES

 Marking of the SPN = state of the system

 Firing of a transition = occurrence of an
event

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Notation…
A Petri net is a 5-tuple , where
 S is a set of places
 T is a set of transitions
 F is a set of arcs s.t.

 M0 is an initial marking

 W is the set of arc weights/transition

matrix/incidence matrix

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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…allows for many things
The state of a net is an M vector so

State equations are possible

◦ Where is how many times

each transition fires
◦ WT state transition matrix

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 p

. 1
t p t p t
1

2 1 1 1

1 p t
2

W  S={p1,p2,p3,p4}
T={t1,t2,t3,t4}
 F={(p1,t1) (p2,t2) (p3,t3)
(p4,t4) (t1,p2)(t2,p3)(t2 p4)
(t3,p1) (t4,p2)}
M0 Initial state (1,1,2,1)
σ Firing sequence (t2 t3 t1 t4)
Mn Final state (1,3,2,0)

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Enabling and firing rules -Inhibitor arc
 The modeling power of Petri nets can be increased by
adding the zero testing ability, i.e., the ability to test
whether a place has no token. This is achieved by
introducing an inhibitor arc.
 The inhibitor arc connects an input place to transition, and is
pictorially represented by an arc terminated with a small
circle.

 The presence of an inhibitor arc connecting an input

place to a transition changes the transition enabling
conditions.
 In the presence of the inhibitor arc, a transition is
regarded as enabled if each input place, connected to
the transition by a normal arc ( TGS-AAU-
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arc terminated
Modeling of
Enabling and firing rules – Self loop
 A Petri net is said to be a pure or self-loop free if no
place is an input place to and output place of the
same transition .
 A Petri net that contains self-loops can always be
converted to a pure Petri net as shown in Figure 5

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Properties of Petri nets
Representational Power of Petri nets
PNs exhibited suitable for modeling activities such as
concurrency, decision making, synchronization and
priorities are modeled very effectively with Petri nets.

These characteristics are represented using a set of

simple constructs
 Sequential actions
 Dependency
 Conflict (decision, choice)
 Concurrency
 Cycles
 Synchronization (mutually exclusive actions, resource
sharing, communication, queues)

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•Properties of Petri Nets
•Sequential Execution

Transition t2 can fire only

after the firing of t1. This
impose the precedence of p1 p2 p3
constraints "t2 after t1."
Synchronization
•

Transition t1 will be
enabled only when a token
there are at least one
token at each of its input
places.
Merging
•

Happens when tokens from

several places arrive for
service at the same
transition.
•
TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Properties of Petri Nets
•
-continued
•

Concurrency
•

t1 and t2 are concurrent.

- with this property, Petri
net is able to model
systems of distributed
control with multiple
processes executing
concurrently in time.
•

•
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• Properties of Petri Nets -continued
•

• Conflict
t1 and t2 are both ready to
fire but the firing of any
leads to the disabling of the
other transitions.

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• Properties of Petri Nets -continued
•

• Conflict - continued

• the resulting conflict may be resolved in a

purely non-deterministic way or in a
probabilistic way, by assigning appropriate
probabilities to the conflicting transitions.

there is a choice of either t1 and t2, or t3 and t4

•

t t
1 2

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Sequential actions, Dependency

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Conflict resolution, concurrency

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Cycles

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synchronization

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Buffer (Queue)

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Communication

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Behavioral Properties of PN
State Machines
A state machine is a PN in which each transition has
exactly one input and one output place. This can be
concisely expressed as ;

|.t|=|t.| = 1 for all t Є T .

Recalling that one limitation of Marked graphs was

that they could not represent conflict. State
machines can represent conflict because they permit
the basic conflict or decision-making structure.

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Behavioral Properties of PN
Properties of Petri Nets
Reachability.
From the model point of view, this property determines whether a
given (vector) marking is reachable from the initial marking. From
the real system point of view, this property indicates whether a
system state is reachable from the initial configuration.

It can be used to answer question such as the following: it is

possible to reach a state where machine M is processing two parts
while robot R is busy and machine M’ is free? It is possible to reach
a state in which buffer B is full? The answers to a set of well-defined
questions can be used to establish a correct system design. A
second related property is coverability.

From the Petri net point of view, this determines whether a

reachable marking is greater than or equal to another given
marking. From this kind of property, less complete information can
be obtained; but this information can be used in a similar way that
provided by reachability properties.

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Behavioral Properties of PN
Reachability
Reacahability is a fundamental basis for studying the dynamic
properties of any system. The firing of an enabled transition will
change the token distribution (marking).
A sequence of firing will result in a sequence of markings. A
marking Mn is said to be reachable from a marking Mo if
there exists a sequence of firings that transforms Mo to
Mn.

A firing or occurrence sequence is denoted by σ= Mo t1 t2 M2

… tn Mn or simply σ= t1 t2 …. tn.

In this case, Mn is reachable from Mo by σ and we write

Mo{σ>Mn}.

The set of all possible markings reachable from Mo in a net

(N,Mo). The set of all possible firing sequence from Mo in
a net (N, Mo) is denoted by L(N,Mo) or simply L(Mo)
TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Behavioral Properties of PN
Boundedness and safeness

 This property determines whether the number of

tokens in a given place is always smaller than or
equal to a given constant k.

 Usually in FMS/AMS domains, using the possible meanings

of a place as stated previously, all places must be bounded;
the model is perhaps, incorrect.

 If a model is correct and a place is detected to be

unbounded, some overflow problems may arise. A
related property is safeness (1-boundedness).

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Behavioral Properties of PN
Boundedness
A PN (n, Mo) is said to be k-bounded or simply boundedif
the number of tokens in each place does not exceed a finite
number k for any marking reachable from Mo, i.e., M(P)≤k for
every place p and every marking M Є(Mo).
A PN (N, Mo) is said to be safe if is 1-bounded.

Eg the nets shown below (fig b) is 2-bounded.

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Petri Nets-Properties
Reversibility

When verified, this property determines that

the initial state can be reached from each
reachable state.

In the application domain considered, this property

means that each possible erroneous situation
has been considered by means of some error
recovery strategy.

The erroneous situations include the case of

system deadlocks and the case of resource
failures.
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Petri Nets – Properties
Deadlock-freeness/liveness
A Petri net system is said to be deadlock-free if at
each reachable marking there exists at least
one transition that is enabled. In our application
domain this means that it is always possible to make
some production activity.

Deadlock-freeness is not enough for this domain. It

is possible to have a part of a system that can
always run correctly, but also another part of
the system that is in a deadlock. For instance, it
is possible to have one type of part being correctly
processed, as well as other parts whose processing
has been started but cannot be finished.

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Petri Nets – Properties
Thus deadlock-freeness cannot be strong enough for highly
automated systems; liveness is a stronger property. A
Petri net system is said to be live if for each reachable
marking it is always possible to fire any transition.

In the application domain considered, this mean that it is

always possible to execute the system actions modeled by any
transition.

As a consequence the processing of each part, once

started, can always be finished: the transitions “driving”
a token (modeling a part) to the system output can be
fired.

Thus the processing of the part can be finished. This also means
that if there are always new raw materials, their
processing can be carried out.
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Behavioral Properties of PN
Liveness
The concept of liveness is closely related to the
complete absence of deadlocks in operating systems.
A PN (N,Mo) is said to be live (or equivalently Mo is said
to be a live marking for N), if no matter what marking
has been reached from Mo, it is possible to ultimately
fire any transition of the net by progressing through
some further firing sequence.
This means that a live PN guarantees deadlock-free operation,
no matter what firing sequence is chosen(eg figure 6)

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Petri Nets-Properties

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Timed Petri Nets
Original model of Petri Net was timeless. Time was not
explicitly considered since

Timed Petri Nets

One major extension over the past in PN modeling is inclusion
of time into the net. Time is included in a PN model; such a
net is referred as Timed Petri Nets (TPNs).

Timed Petri nets have been used for the performance

evaluation of concurrent systems and, in particular, of
communication protocols and multiprocessor computer
systems.

Time is associated with the transitions and when

enabled or fired, the firing delay of the transitions can
be either deterministic or stochastic in nature.

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Time in Petri Net -continued
Even though there are arguments against the
introduction of time, there are several applications
that require notion of time.

First attempt was made by Ramchandani at MIT

in 1974, and since then there have been many
different approaches of extending petri net by the
integration of time, however not a systemic
introduction.

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Timed Petri Net - Overview
 General approach:
◦ Transition is associated with a time for
which no event/firing of a token can occur
until this delay time has elapsed.

◦ This delay time can be deterministic or

probabilistic.

◦ Number of servers should be specified.

Different outcomes resulted from plural/single
server.

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Petri Nets - SPN
Due to this nature of transition firing, Timed Petri Nets are
grouped into

Deterministic Timed Petri Nets (DTPNs), and

Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets (GSPNs).

Transitions called immediate transitions that take zero

time or no time to fire are another extension to the nature of
Timed Petri Net transitions.

Deterministic Timed Petri Nets (DTPNs)

When time delays for operations or activities in a concurrent
conflict or choice-free system are fixed, we can model the
system as a deterministic timed Petri net.

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Petri Nets - SPN
Deterministic Timed Petri Nets (DTPNs)
When a choice is involved in such a system and the system is
allowed to make a choice freely, and then its behavior
becomes non-deterministic.

For the class of choice-free Petri nets, marked graphs or

event graphs are suitable and sufficient, which can
represent concurrent activities but not choices.

The performance index for such a model is cycle time.

Transitions, places, and arcs all can be associated with
time delays in a marked graph, resulting in a timed
marked graph. These elements with time delays can be
converted into each other.

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Petri Nets - SPN
Deterministic Timed Petri nets are a class of timed Petri nets
where a constant delay is augmented to the transitions of
the net. Then a DTPN is defined as,

N=(P, T, I, O) alternatively N= (S, T, F, MO, W)

N = (P, T, E, W, H, D) where,

P: Finite nonempty set of places

T: Finite nonempty set of transitions
E: A set of directed arcs that connects places to transitions and vice
versa;
W: Weight of the arcs
H: Finite set of inhibitor arcs
D: Duration of firing

A place is an input (or an output) place of a transition t if and only if there

exists an arc from (p to t) or from (t to p) respectively in the set E.
The sets of all input and output places of a transition t are denoted by
Inp(t) and Out(t), respectively. Similarly, the set of all input and output
transitions of a place is denoted by Inp(p) and Out(p) respectively.

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Petri Nets - SPN
Stochastic Petri Nets
Classical Petri nets are useful in investigating qualitative or
logical properties of concurrent systems, such as mutual
exclusion, existence and absence of deadlocks, boundedness and
fairness. However for quantitative evaluation the concept of
time needs to be incorporated in to the definition.

A convenient way of achieving this is that for every state

(marking) has associated with it a time for which no event
(i.e. a transaction) can occur until this time has elapsed. An
event is the result of activities performed by the system when it is
in the situation specified by the marking.

Time is therefore naturally associated with transactions,

such that they can only fire some time after they have been
enabled. The association of time with transactions is the most
common form of timed Petri nets although associating time with
places is exactly the same.

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Petri Nets - SPN
A stochastic Petri net (SPN) is essentially a high level model
that generates a stochastic process.

SPN performance evaluation is simply the modeling of

the given system using SPNs and generating the
stochastic process that governs the systems behavior.

This stochastic process is then further analyzed using known

techniques such as Markov Chain models and Semi-Markov
chain models.

The use of SPNs is considerably useful to the modeler as it is a

graphical model and is convenient in the obtaining a credible
high-level model of a system.

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Petri Nets
As a modeling tool SPNs offer several advantages:

1. They provide a convenient framework for correctly and

faithfully describing an AMS and for generating the
underlying stochastic process.
2. Their analysis can be automated and there are available
several software tools for this purpose.
3. They can exactly model non-product form features,
such as priorities, synchronization, forking, blocking
and multiple resource holding.
4. They can be used a both logical and quantitative
analysis.
5. Even if their analysis is intractable, they serve as a
ready simulation model.

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Petri Nets - SPN
As a method of representation SPNs are very powerful, on a par
with Markov chain models. They suffer on the other hand on
the computational front as they suffer from state space
explosions.

Definition:
A Stochastic Petri Net is a six-tuple (P, T, I, O, M, F)
where (P, T, I, O, M) is a petri net and F is a function, which
associates with each transition in each reachable
marking, a random variable. This is a very general definition
of a stochastic Petri net.

The basic philosophy underlying the use of various classes

of stochastic Petri net in performance evaluation is the
equivalence of their marking process, under appropriate
distributional assumptions, to a Markov or Semi-Markov
process with discrete state space.
TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Petri Nets - SPN
The typical steps in stochastic Petri net evaluation include:

1. Modeling the given system by a stochastic Petri net.

2. Generating the marking process.
3. Computing the steady state probability distribution of
states of the marking process
4. Obtaining the required performance measures from the
steady state probabilities.

All steps in the evaluation can be automated and this

constitutes an important reason for the popularity of stochastic
Petri net performance modeling.

Stochastic Petri nets fall into two subsets, these are:

1. Exponential Timed Petri Nets, and
2. Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets

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Petri Nets-CPN
Colored Petri nets

 Colored Petri nets (CP-nets or CPN) are extensions of

ordinary Petri nets and graphical modeling languages that
model both the states of a system and the events that
change the system from one state to another.

 CP-nets combine the strengths of ordinary Petri nets

(PN) and programming languages.

 The formalism of Petri nets is well suited for describing

concurrent and synchronizing actions in distributed systems.

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Petri Nets-CPN
Programming languages can be used to define data
types and manipulation of data.

Large and complex models can be built using hierarchical CP-

nets in which modules, which are called pages in CPN
terminology, are related to each other in a well-defined way.

Without the hierarchical structuring mechanism, it

would be difficult to create understandable CP-nets of
real-world systems. CP-nets can be used in practice only
because there are mature and well-tested tools
supporting them.

CPN Tools has a new GUI with state-of-the-art interaction

techniques such as two-handed input, tool glasses and
marking menus, and an improved simulator.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets application in Manufacturing
Systems
 Petri net model is a network of interconnecting resources and
actions representing a real system.
 By modelling manufacturing systems, performance analysis
can be performed to help the operations manager to
plan resources, schedule jobs and predict overall
throughput rate and system capacity.
 The resulting parameters can be recorded and compared to
form measures of the operations’ efficiency and
effectiveness.
 This assists managers to quantify system performance,
as opposed to pure judgement, which is subjective
and difficult to compare.
 Petri net also serves as a communication aid to both
higher management and people on the shop floor, showing
the abstract aspects of work cells coordination and resource
cycles graphically.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets application in Manufacturing
Systems
 The hierarchical nature of Petri net enables it to manage,
display and analyse large and small models in
different scales and levels of detail.

 Although it potentially suffers from state space explosions

when dealing with complex manufacturing systems, various
extensions of Petri net add richness and flexibility to
the modelling language.

 Reduction theorems and data fusion methods exist to

facilitate analysis on such complex models.

 For the efficient running of a factory, many issues are

required to be solved: ranging from integration among
different processes to system capacity planning.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets application in Manufacturing
Systems
 Petri net is one of various analytical tools to solve these
issues.

 In modern production plants, where flexible

manufacturing systems are used to achieve factory
automation, Petri nets can be applied to capture the
essence and details of the plant processes.

 It provides the means to model common manufacturing

operations, such as concurrent assembly lines,
synchronisation, unreliable machines and resource
contention.

 The behavioural properties of the model provide

useful information to the engineer in controller design
and managers in job scheduling and capacity
planning.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets application in Manufacturing
Systems
 Manufacturing processes often occur in parallel, such as
multiple assembly lines and these concurrent
operations can be modelled by drawing separate
chains of place and transition in the graph.

 Synchronisation occurs in assembly lines where parts

resulting from various processes are brought together
to form a final product. Synchronising products from
concurrent processes is an important aspect in
manufacturing operations.

 An element of uncertainty exists in operations, such

as machine tool failures and these non-deterministic
processes can be modelled by using stochastic timed
Petri nets, where random time delay can be
associated with each place. As the machines breakdown,
bottlenecks and deadlocks may occur, which engineers
strive to eliminate or prevent.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets -example
 Input Places Transition Output Places
 Preconditions Event Post conditions
 Input data Computation Step Output data
 Input signals Signal Processor Output Signals
 Resources needed Task or Job Resources released
 Conditions Clause in Logic Conclusions
 Buffers Processor Buffers

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets –example-1
Places/Transitions Description
P1 Raw material available
p2 Robot Available
p3 Milling machine (WS1) is available
p4 WS1 loaded with raw material by robot
P5 Milling operation performed on raw material
p6 Semi-finished part loaded on WS2 by robot
p7 Drilling operation performed on the part
p8 Drilling machine (WS2) available
p9 Out going conveyor loaded by robot
t1 Starting to load WS1
t2 Initiation of milling operation
t3 Termination of milling operation
t4 Initiation of drilling operation
t5 Termination of drilling operation
t6 Completion of action in p9

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Petri Nets –example-1
.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Petri Nets –example-1
.

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Petri Nets –example-2

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
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Petri Nets –example-2

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets –example-3 (FMC)
A Flexible Assembly cell
Consider the assembly cell shown in the figure below . A
conveyor and two neighborhooding robots are needed to carry
out an assembly task. Each conveyor (C) requests the left robot
(R) first, and after acquiring it, requests the right one. Then the
assembly operation starts. When the task is completed, the
conveyor releases both robots.
Robot Robot
1 Conveyor 2
1

Conveyor
Conveyor 2 3

Robot
3
A flexible assembly
TGS-AAU- Modeling of
cell ManufSystems
Petri Nets –example-3 (FMC)
Requesting and releasing a robot are two events that can occur
concurrently and asynchronously. For eg, the three conveyors could
simultaneously request their left robots (concurrently). Also there is
a release of two allocated robots occur when the assembly task is
over but the time of this event cannot be accurately predicted due
to possible delays or errors (asynchronously). The petrinet model
must capture the concurrent and asynchronous behavior of the
system. For the above shown assembly cell;

P1, conveyor C1 requesting its left robot R1

P4, conveyor C2 requesting its left robot R2
P7, conveyor C3 requesting its left robot R3
P2, conveyor C1 requesting its right robot R2
P5, conveyor C2 requesting its right robot R3
P8, conveyor C3 requesting its right robot R1
P3, conveyor C1 and its two robots R1 and R2 are in use
P6, conveyor C2 and its two robots R2 and R3 are in use
P9, conveyor C3 and its two robots R3 and R1 are in use

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets –example-3 (FMC)
P10 the robot R1
P11 the robot R2
P12 the robot R3

Next, transition are assigned that represent the activities in the

system
t1 conveyor C1 acquires its left robot R1
t4 conveyor C2 acquires its left robot R2
t7 conveyor C3 acquires its left robot R3
t2 conveyor C1 acquires its right robot R2
t5 conveyor C2 acquires its right robot R3
t8 conveyor C3 acquires its right robot R1
t3 conveyor releases R1 and R2
t6 conveyor releases R2 and R3
t9 conveyor releases R3 and R1

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems
Petri Nets –example-3 (FMC)
At the start of the assembly task, all conveyors and robots are
free, and the three conveyors are concurrently requesting their
left robots,. This produces the initial marking

Mo =(1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1)T

The initial marking along with the logical requirements of the

assembly task leads to the Petri net model

The initial marking has enabled transitions t1, t2 and t7. If these
transtions are allowed to fire concurrently, the new marking will
be

M’ = (o 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 ) T

TGS-AAU- Modeling of
ManufSystems