Abstract
This article presents the results of using an object-oriented design and implementation to create a fully decentralized computer-integrated manufacturing system. The intelligence of the resulting system, called DOOCIMS, is dispersed among a single layer of processing cells, allowing the system a greater ability to adapt to changes in system configuration. A necessary component of the design is a scheduling strategy for the movement of physical and logical objects through the system. Two scheduling strategies are proposed and compared for DOOCIMS. The potential robustness of this type of system stems from the redistribution of coordinating intelligence from a central controller to the mobile objects. Addition or removal of nodes is completely dynamic as all scheduling and negotiations take place only as needed without the services of a central controller. Therefore, no single failure can completely immediately halt such a system except for failures of unique nodes and global network media failures.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.