4 Autonomous Continuous and Hybrid Petri Nets The marking of a place ina PN may correspond to the state of a device, e.g. a ‘machine is or is not available, This marking can be compared to a Boolean variable. A marking can also be associated with an integer, ¢.g. the number of parts in the Input buffer of a machine. In this second case, the number of tokens ‘may be a large number. This may result in such a large number of reachable ‘markings that a limit is formed for use of PNs. A number of authors studying production systems have modeled a number of parts by a real number, a ‘approximation which generally proves very satisfactory. Why not then in a PN? The continuous Petri net is a model in which the number of marks in the places are real numbers instead of integers. This model is presented in Section 4.1 Then, hybrid PNs containing a “discrete part" and a "continuous part are defined in Section 4.2. Properties of continuous and hybrid PNs are presented in Section 43, Finally, Section 44 is devoted 10 a model called extended Hybrid PN. All the models in this chapter are autonomous, ie., not dependent on time. 4.1 AUTONOMOUS CONTINUOUS PETRI NETS In Section 4.1.1, continuous PNs are shown to be a limit case of discrete (regular) PNs. ‘After a formal definition of continuous PNs in Section 4.1.2, reachability and conflicts are considered in Section 4.1.3 4.1.1 From Discrete Petri Net To Continuous Petri Net Let us consider a PN R (i.e., autonomous, discrete, ordinary or generalized) defined by its graph Q (places, transitions, ares) and its marking m. and let us112 Chapter 4 apply a transformation which consists of dividing each mark into & equal parts (without any other modification of the PN). This new discrete PN and its marking, will be denoted by R's, and mx, (or more simply R' and m’ when there is n0 ambiguity). Normally, roken and mark are synonymous, We shall use the word mark for the ‘marking of the initial PN. Each mark is divided into & and the new unit whieh is fone kth of mark is called a token. This designation is consistent with the usual ‘meanings, since there is equivalence for k= 1 ‘See Figure 4.1 for example. The considered transformation applied to the PN of Figure b gives the PN of Figure c in which the markings are expressed in tokens, i.e., m{sy = 2k, 0). The new PN (represented for & = 4 in Figure c) possesses all the characteristics of a regular discrete PN. For the PN R of Figure b, the firing of 7, consists of removing a mark from place P, and adding a mark to place P,, For the PN R’o, of Figure c, the firing of 7; consists of removing a token from place P, and adding a token in place P,, The marking of a place can thus be expressed in tokens (integer) or in marks (rational number if k is finite). Let m} be the marking of the place P, expressed in tokens of the PN Ry. For the same PN, we shall write ° Bach mark split ino kokens " “ll? fn mark its Th [0] rpmsset — fa] sa co _atings fo Rin =O. me) 0) Expressed = [2] tans Figure 4.1 Transformation of a PN. (a) Unmarked PN Q. (b) Marked PN R=(Q,m). (¢) Transformed PN Riy = (Q, mis), represented for k = 4. (@ Graph of markings for R. (e) Graph of markings for RipAutonomous Continuous and Hybrid Petri Nets 113 k the marking of place P, expressed in marks. If we compare the markings expressed in unit marks for the PNs R and Rin (Figure 4.1d and e), we see that the reachable markings of the PN of Figure 4.16 are included in those of Figure 4.1c, We shall now introduce a new notation, The notation [77] corresponding to the simultaneous firing of both T, and 7, (once each) was presented in Section 2.14, Since (T)}¢= 7,7, a double firing of 7, can be denoted by ((TyF1 = (7,Til ‘We now propose a simpler notation, which will be useful in the sequel Notation 4.1 Let (T;]"=(T)"], where a is a non-negative number, denote the firing of 7), « times simultaneously (1e., at one go). 3 In other words, [T,|* represents a firings of T, at one go, whereas (T,)° represents a. successive firings of 7). For continuous PNs, non-integer values of” er will be considered, Figure 4.2a shows the set of possible markings and the corresponding transition firings for the PN R in Figure 4.1b, in the plane defined by m, and m,. In addition to the single transition firings (2,0) 2 (1, 1), (1) Bs 2,0), (1,1) Ls (0,2), and (0,2) —B. (1, 1), we have represented all the multiple transition firings, namely (2, 0) GE. (0, 2), (1.1) MBL. (1, 1), and (0,2) IEE, (2,0). ‘The possible markings of Ry are shown in Figure 4.2b for k = 4. There are very many possible multiple transition firings. Only two of them are illustrated: ine NG | © Figure 4.2 From discrete to continuous Petri net. (a) Graph of reachable ‘markings for PN R in Figure 4.16. (b) Graph of reachable markings of Rip = (, 1m») for k= 4, (c) Reachable markings of R's114 Chapter 4 (5,3) DE, (2,6) and (2,6) EI, (8,0), in tokens, ie, (1.25, 0.75) I!" , (0.5, 1.5) and (0.5, 1.5) EE", (2,0), in marks. ‘When & tends to infinity, the set of reachable markings becomes infinite. It can be represented by a segment of line between (2, 0) and (0, 2) as illustrated in Figure 4.2c. The marking can no longer be expressed in tokens (since m! may become infinite). We use the marking expressed in marks. For marking m = (a, 2c), where ais any real number in the range (0, 2}, enabling degrees of T, and 7; are, respectively, cand 2—a. Figure c illustrates the possible firings of these transitions according to their enabling degrees. Infact, from m, T, can be fired f times at one go (B is called the firing quantity), such that O's Bs a (a, 2-a) i, (a-f,2-a+p). ‘Similarly, the firing of [7,]', 0 < y = (2-a) is possible, Finally, the mul firing of ((T, (3) is possible at one go from m. 4.1.2. Definition In the sequel, some formalism is introduced, After definitions of a continuous PN and of enabling in such a PN, events changing the set of enabled transitions are pointed out. Definition 4.1 A marked autonomous continuous PN is a 5-uple R=(P,T, Pre, Post, m,) such that: P={Py, Po, on Py} i8.a finite, not empty, set of places; T= (Ty, Tay on Ta} 18 a finite, not empty, set of transitions; PA T=0,ic. the sets P and T are disjointed: Pre: Px T— Q. is the input incidence application’; Post: P x T+ @, is the output incidence application; mg: P-» . is the initial marking. a Pre(P,, T,) is the weight of the arc P, ~ Tj: positive rational number if the arc exists and 0 if not. Similarly, Post(P,. 7) isthe weight of the arc T; > P,. ‘Are weights could be defined as real numbers? However, since a weight has a fixed value, its definition as a rational value, practically, is not a restriction, On the other hand, a place marking must be @ real number since it may change continuously. As fora discrete PN, R (0, m,) where Q = (P, T, Pre, Post) represents the * Notation @, and , correspond respectively to the sets of non-negative rational numbers and non-negative seal mimbirs, "previous presentations including [DaAI892921 ar weights were defined as rea numbersAutonomous Continuous and Hybrid Petri Nets 11s unmarked PN (Definitions 2.11 to 2.13 in Section 2.2.2.1). In a continuous PN, places and transitions are represented by a double line (Figure 4.3a for example), Definition 4.2 In a continuous PN, the enabling degree of transition 7, for marking m, denoted by q or q(T, m) is the real number q such that m(P) nin (wees ap Iq >0, transition 7 is enabled; itis said to be q-enabled a Definition 4.2 applies to a generalized PN. For the particular case of a PN in ‘which the weight i 1 forall ares, (4.1) may be simplified as: = min (mR): (4.2) We shall now introduce concepts which willbe useful for studying reachability. Since the number of markings in a continuous PN-may be infinite, we define ‘macro-markings whose number i Finite Definition 43 Let m, be a marking. The set P of places may be divided into two subsets: P'(m,) the set of places P, such that m,(P,) > 0, and P'(m) the set of places P, such that m(P,) = 0. A macro-marking is the union of all markings m, with the same set P°(m,) of marked places. A macro-marking will be denoted by m} (or possibly m, if it contains a single marking). It may be specified by its set of marked places P(m)). Property 4.1 The number of reachable macro-markings of a m-place continuous PN is less than or equal to 2" a ‘This property is a direct consequence of Definition 4,3, since each macro- marking is based on the Boolean state of every place: marked or not marked. The number of macro-markings is necessarily finite (even if the continuous PN is unbounded) because the number of places is finite. a my os my ah 2 2 km i rr i ae m5 ° = noe ° 2m 0 zm @ cy © @ Figure 4.3 (a) Continuous Petri net. (b) to (4) Illustration of its macro- markings.