Finding Clusters in Petri Nets. An approach based on GPenSIM

Abstract

Graph theory provides some methods for finding clusters in networks. Clusters reflect the invisible grouping of the elements in a network. This paper presents a new method for finding clusters in networks. In this method, the user can adjust a parameter to change the number of clusters. This method is newly added to the simulator General-purpose Petri Net Simulator (GPenSIM) as a function for network analysis. With this GPenSIM function, in addition to the usual performance analysis of a discrete-event system via a Petri net model, supplementary information about the grouping of the elements can also be found. Finding clusters in discrete-event systems provides valuable information such as the ideal location of the elements in a manufacturing network. This paper also presents an application example on a flexible manufacturing system.

Keywords

• Clusters
• peer-pressure method
• Petri Nets
• GPenSIM
• Flexible Manufacturing System