Introduction to Discrete Event Systems

The rapid evolution of computing, communication, and sensor technologies has brought about the proliferation of 'new' dynamic systems, mostly technological and often highly complex. Examples are all around us: computer and communication networks; automated manufacturing systems; air traffic control systems; and distributed software systems. The 'activity' in these systems is governed by operational rules designed by humans; their dynamics are therefore characterized by asynchronous occurrences of discrete events. These features lend themselves to the term discrete event system for this class of dynamic systems. A substantial portion of this book is a revised version of Discrete Event Systems: Modeling and Performance Analysis (1993), written by the first author, received the 1999 HAROLD CHESTNUT PRIZE, awarded by the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) for best control engineering textbook. This new expanded book is intended to be a comprehensive introduction to the field of discrete event systems, emphasizing breadth of coverage and accessibility of the material to readers with possibly different backgrounds. Its key feature is the emphasis placed on a unified modeling framework that transcends specific application areas and allows linking of the following topics in a coherent manner: language and automata theory, supervisory control, Petri net theory, (max,+) algebra, Markov chains and queueing theory, discrete-event simulation, perturbation analysis, and concurrent estimation techniques. Until now, these topics had been treated in separate books or in the research literature only. Introduction to Discrete Event Systems is written as a textbook for courses at the senior undergraduate level or the first-year graduate level. It will be of interest to students in a variety of disciplines where the study of discrete event systems is relevant: control, communications, computer engineering, computer science, manufacturing engineering, operations research, and industrial engineering.Cassandras, Christos G. is the author of 'Introduction to Discrete Event Systems' with ISBN 9780792386094 and ISBN 0792386094.