Performance models for communication networks in manufacturing environment

The performance analysis of computer communication networks for manufacturing automation has been investigated by a number of researchers. Many analytical and simulation models have been proposed. Basically, one can classify these models as queueing models, queueing network models, simulation models and Petri net models. In this paper, an overview of various models and a Petri net method for modeling and performance of token bus local area networks are presented. In the authors´ Petri net models, the four different service types in these networks are modeled and their performance can be derived for both symmetric and asymmetric cases. In order to deal with large networks, an approximation scheme is introduced