The text is designed for engineering students at the senior undergraduate level and first-year students at graduate level, and professionals (R&D engineers in the industry and factory managers). The authors offer a unique effort in presenting a unified and systematic treatment of various modeling methodologies and analysis techniques for performance evaluation of automated manufacturing systems. The text begins with an overview of automated manufacturing systems, and then provides a clear and comprehensive discussion of three principal analytical modeling paradigms: Markov Chains, Queues and Queuing Networks, and Petri Nets. Salient Features • Present the first ever treatment of the mathematical modeling of manufacturing systems. • Offers a unified study of principal analytical modeling paradigms for automated manufacturing systems. • Discusses many recent research contributions in the area of modeling of automated manufacturing systems. • Discusses many recent research contributions in the area of modeling of automated manufacturing systems, including deadlock modeling, transient analysis, queuing network approximations, Petri Net modeling, and integrated analytical modeling. • Provides a large number of exercises and problems.

This book describes methods to improve software performance and safety using advanced mathematical and computational analytics. The main focus is laid on the increase of software reliability by preventive and predictive maintenance with efficient usage of modern testing resources. The editors collect contributions from international researchers in the field.

Control and Dynamic Systems: Advances in Theory and Applications, Volume 47: Manufacturing and Automation Systems: Techniques and Technologies, Part 3 of 5 deals with techniques and technologies in manufacturing and automation systems. This book discusses techniques in modeling and control policies for production networks; effective planning and control of day-to-day operations; evaluation of automated manufacturing systems; the use of Petri Nets in modeling, control and performance analysis of automated manufacturing systems; and concurrent engineering and evaluation of concurrency in engineering design. The final chapter discusses the algorithm for solving allocation problems. This book will provide a uniquely significant reference source for practitioners in the field who want a comprehensive source of techniques with significant applied implications.

There is perhaps no facet of modern society where the influence of computer automation has not been felt. Flight management systems for pilots, diagnostic and surgical aids for physicians, navigational displays for drivers, and decision-aiding systems for air-traffic controllers, represent only a few of the numerous domains in which powerful new automation technologies have been introduced. The benefits that have been reaped from this technological revolution have been many. At the same time, automation has not always worked as planned by designers, and many problems have arisen--from minor inefficiencies of operation to large-scale, catastrophic accidents. Understanding how humans interact with automation is vital for the successful design of new automated systems that are both safe and efficient. The influence of automation technology on human performance has often been investigated in a fragmentary, isolated manner, with investigators conducting disconnected studies in different domains. There has been little contact between these endeavors, although principles gleaned from one domain may have implications for another. Also, with a few exceptions, the research has tended to be empirical and only theory-driven. In recent years, however, various groups of investigators have begun to examine human performance in automated systems in general and to develop theories of human interaction with automation technology. This book presents the current theories and assesses the impact of automation on different aspects of human performance. Both basic and applied research is presented to highlight the general principles of human-computer interaction in several domains where automation technologies are widely implemented. The major premise is that a broad-based, theory-driven approach will have significant implications for the effective design of both current and future automation technologies. This volume will be of considerable value to researchers in human

Based on the research activities of the six-year NASA human performance modeling project, Human Performance Modeling in Aviation provides an in-depth look at cognitive modeling of human operators for aviation problems. This book presents specific solutions to aviation safety problems and explores methods for integrating human performance modeling into the aviation design process. The text compares the application of five different models to two classes of aviation problems: pilot navigation errors during airport taxi operations and approach and landing performance with synthetic vision systems. This results in a comprehensive summary of the capabilities of each model and of the field in general.