Abstract
A simulation model of an in-line Flexible Manufacturing System has been built using the declarative computer programming lan guage PROLOG. The model is a vehicle for the study of dynamic responses of Flexible Manufacturing System control. Animation of system status and powerful user interaction are essential for this application.
A simple but effective structure has been formulated in PROLOG as a core kernel of the simulator. The decision making process is modelled as a set of functional queues. Partitioning of the de cision functions permits modeling of complex peer-to-peer co ordinated decision making in non-trivial control environments. This offers many advantages over traditional manufacturing simu lation systems.
The authors describe appropriate strategies for the realization of acceptable computational performance while retaining the powerful benefits of the PROLOG environment. The result is a practical operational system which features an incremental de velopment upgrade path, quick prototyping, fast and clearly understood code changes.
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