Fault diagnosis in an intermodal container terminal

Petri nets are used to define a hierarchical monitoring structure intended for real-time fault diagnosis and recovery in an intermodal terminal where freight only arrives and departs stored into containers. An intermodal container terminal can be modelled as a discrete event system prone to unforeseeable events resulting in deviations (delays) from the a-priori planned schedule. Whenever a failure, i.e., a delay in some operation, is detected, a diagnosis procedure is triggered accordingly. A real case study relevant to a terminal in the port of Genova, Italy, is introduced to show a practical application of the proposed model.