Distributed and heterarchical control for Grid Manufacturing

Grid Manufacturing (GM) is a new production paradigm, based upon the use of standardized and modular Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS). In GM all systems have virtual software counterparts that act autonomously. This includes both modular manufacturing equipment, as the products themselves. The control system required for this approach is based upon a distributed and hybrid architecture using agent technology. In this paper we look at the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) part of this system. The paper discusses the proposed control architecture, introduces ways to standardize state representation and shows a solution to the challenge of representing and controlling the states of distributed systems, with a focus on safety.