Distributed Dynamic Scheduling for Cyber-Physical Production Systems Based on a Multi-Agent System

Abstract

The world is experiencing a new industrial revolution characterized by intelligent manufacturing. Cyber-physical production systems (CPPSs) have become a research focus due to their proposed use as a solution to the development of flexible and reactive systems. The application of current centralized scheduling methods is difficult because of the enhanced precision control mode of a CPPS. Therefore, this paper focuses on distributed optimal scheduling based on multi-agent systems. First, the goals and constraints of the system are set, a two-layer decision model and the required indicators are designed to ensure the overall optimization effect, and the roles and functions of different agents are then set. Second, the dynamic decision cycle and the multistage negotiation mechanism based on the contract net protocol are studied to ensure the quality of negotiation. A rescheduling algorithm is designed to guarantee adaptability in the case of disturbance in the system. Finally, the applicability and superiority of the strategies are demonstrated via experiments and case studies.

Keywords

• Cyber-physical production system
• multi-agent system
• distributed scheduling
• two-layer decision model
• contract net protocol