Nested Anticipation in Design of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

The presented work deals with a special modelling method that is relevant to analyse reconfigurable manufacturing systems during their design phase and to anticipate their behaviour when they themselves are viewed as anticipatory systems. The technique named nested simulation consists in the simulation of elements that simulate their own environment using their own models. It enables a design process based on on-line predictive simulation to be analysed. Different implementations using SIMULA language have been performed. The features of the tool are presented. The interest for reconfigurable manufacturing systems is discussed.