On hybrid Petri nets (Q5930250)

The paper is a survey of results developed by the authors and by their team (Laboratoire d'Automatique de Grenoble) in elaborating a Hybrid Petri Nets Theory (i.e., PN consisting of interacting discrete and continuous subnets). The presentation is non-formal and is illustrated by a great number of interesting examples. Autonomous (i.e., no time is involved), extended (inhibitor arcs and infinitely small weights are allowed) and timed (i.e., time is associated with the places or with the transitions) nets are introduced sequentially in a way preserving the fundamental relation \(m = m_{0} + W \cdot s\). Techniques for the transformation of a continuous marking into a discrete one (and vice-versa) and of places delays into transition ones are presented. Conflicts in a Hybrid PN (between a continuous and a discrete transition and between two continuous transitions) are considered. An algorithm for the transformation of a Hybrid PN into a corresponding hybrid automaton is presented.