Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
Modeling discrete-event systems with GPenSIM : an introduction
Davidrajuh R., Springer International Publishing, New York, NY, 2018. 138 pp. Type: Book (978-3-319731-01-8)
Date Reviewed: Mar 25 2019

GPenSim is a freely downloadable, general-purpose Petri net simulator, written as a set of MATLAB M-files, that runs within the MATLAB environment. The example problems also run on Octave, a shareware version of MATLAB, making the package broadly available.

The author’s website (http://www.davidrajuh.net/gpensim/) has instructions for downloading and installing the package, but this volume replaces the online manual that accompanied previous versions of the program. It offers a guided tour of GPenSim’s features, emphasizing its generality and extensibility.

Chapter 1 introduces the general concepts associated with timed Petri nets; a detailed discussion of the formalism itself is deferred to other texts. Chapter 2 describes the configuration files through which the user interacts with the program. These files cleanly separate the static structure of the net from dynamic information. Chapter 3 discusses in detail the pre- and post-processors that can be associated with each transition. These functions are key to GPenSim’s approach to integration, not only with the rest of MATLAB, but also with external hardware. They give the user control just before a transition fires and just after it completes.

GPenSim has prepackaged functions for two aspects of Petri net analysis, the cover ability tree and firing sequences, discussed in chapter 4. Chapter 5 describes options for controlling the duration of a run.

The basic Petri net formalism is attractive because it lends itself to analysis, but practical use has led to the development of many extensions, almost all of which render the formalism analytically intractable, so that simulation becomes essential for exploring a model’s behavior. Chapter 6 discusses two common extensions, inhibitor arcs and prioritized transitions. The book defers discussion of another important extension, colored Petri nets, to a follow-on volume, but the website includes a 35-page document describing how to implement such nets in GPenSim.

Chapter 7 discusses using the tool for performance evaluation, such as measuring activation time, minimizing cycle time, and finding bottlenecks. Chapter 8 gives numerous detailed examples of how to interface the system with the external environment, including file access and control of the LEGO Mindstorms robot. Chapter 9 shows how the system can be used to find structural invariants by coupling it with the Petri net control toolbox from the University of Cagliari.

The book includes 38 detailed examples illustrating the functions of the program. Together with the program, it provides a very accessible laboratory to support courses or self-study based on one of the classical texts on Petri nets and discrete event modeling.

Reviewer:  H. Van Dyke Parunak Review #: CR146488 (1906-0221)
Bookmark and Share
  Featured Reviewer  
 
Discrete event (I.6.8 ... )
 
 
Modeling Methodologies (I.6.5 ... )
 
 
Model Development (I.6.5 )
 
 
Model Validation And Analysis (I.6.4 )
 
 
Simulation Support Systems (I.6.7 )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "Discrete event": Date
Discrete event simulation
Pooch U., Wall J., CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 1993. Type: Book (9780849371745)
Oct 1 1994
A logic-based foundation of discrete event modeling and simulation
Radiya A., Sargent R. ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation 4(1): 3-51, 1994. Type: Article
Mar 1 1995
Programming discrete simulations
Pollatschek M., R & D Publications, Inc., Lawrence, KS, 1996. Type: Book (9780132345842)
May 1 1997
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy