Information Fusion for Simulation Based Decision Support in Manufacturing
Leo J De Vin
1, Amos H C Ng1, Jan Oscarsson1, Sten F Andler21Centre for Intelligent Automation, 2
Distributed Real-Time Systems Research GroupUniversity of Skövde Box 408, 541 28 Skövde, Sweden
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BSTRACTRobust and informed decisions are important for the efficient and effective operation of installed production facilities. The paper discusses information fusion and situations for decision making, as well as the use of manufacturing resource simulation for design/configuration, operational planning & scheduling, and service & maintenance. A generic model for information fusion is presented, which is extended to incorporate modeling & simulation, and active databases.
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ONCLUSIONSResource simulation and information fusion are potentially powerful tools for decision support in manufacturing. However, simulation is often used as a stand-alone tool for design and configuration of production facilities, or for off-line programming. Without playing down the importance of this, simulation tools offer even more benefits and better decision support when connected to the production facility on-line. Examples for scheduling and service & maintenance have been given. In decision making, three levels of information regarding objectives and environment may exist, and simulation helps to reduce the level of uncertainty. Information fusion is often application-specific, or limited in information source types. Simulation and information fusion are a powerful combination for decision support, and a generic framework for information fusion has been presented, as well as a modified framework for decision support in manufacturing, based on both information fusion and resource simulation with on-line monitoring facilities. Even the role of active databases has been discussed and incorporated in this framework.
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