Control Architecture and Transport Coordination for Autonomous Logistics Modules in Flexible Automated Material Flow Systems

The modularization of hard- and software is one approach to handle the demand for increasing flexibility and changeability of automated material flow systems that are, for example, utilized in flexible production systems. In such automated material flow systems, autonomous modules communicate with each other to coordinate and execute transport tasks. The modules are able to detect neighbouring modules and configure interfaces. A control architecture with a central coordination instance is proposed to efficiently communicate topology, state and planning information in a multi-agent material flow system. Furthermore, a planning and scheduling concept for the material flow control is introduced which optimizes traffic and fulfils material flow requirements such as sequencing.