Control of discrete event systems : research at the interface of control theory and computer science

This expository paper is directed to a general audience of engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists. A discrete event system is a mathematical model (in the form of an automaton, Petri nets, or process algebra) of, for example, a computer controlled engineering system such as a communication network. Control theory for discrete event systems aims at synthesis procedures for a supervisor that forces a discrete event system such that it satisfies prespecified control objectives. As an example it i s discussed how the control problem of blocking prevention for nondeterminist ic systems may be solved by the use of failure semantics.