Enhancing Supervisory Control with GPenSIM

Supervisory control theory (SCT) based on Petri nets offers a robust framework for modeling and controlling discrete-event systems but faces significant challenges in scalability, expressiveness, and practical implementation. This paper introduces GPenSIM, a MATLAB-based modular Petri net framework, as a novel solution to these limitations. GPenSIM leverages modular decomposition to mitigate state-space explosion, enabling parallel execution of weakly coupled Petri modules on multi-core systems. Its programmable interfaces (pre-processors and post-processors) extend classical Petri nets’ expressiveness by enforcing nonlinear, temporal, and conditional constraints through custom MATLAB scripts, addressing the rigidity of traditional linear constraints. Furthermore, GPenSIM’s integration with MATLAB facilitates real-time control synthesis, performance optimization, and seamless interaction with external hardware and software, bridging the gap between theoretical models and industrial applications. Empirical studies demonstrate GPenSIM’s efficacy in reconfigurable manufacturing systems, where it reduced downtime by 30%, and in distributed control scenarios, where decentralized modules minimized synchronization delays. Grounded in systems theory principles of interconnectedness, GPenSIM emphasizes dynamic relationships between components, offering a scalable, adaptable, and practical tool for supervisory control. This work highlights GPenSIM’s potential to overcome longstanding limitations in SCT, providing a versatile platform for both academic research and industrial deployment.