Quantitative Measure for Discrete Event Supervisory Control

Citation

Howard, W.R. (2006), "Quantitative Measure for Discrete Event Supervisory Control", Kybernetes, Vol. 35 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2006.06735iae.003

Quantitative Measure for Discrete Event Supervisory Control

Quantitative Measure for Discrete Event Supervisory ControlAsok Ray, Vir V. Phoha and Shashi P. Phoha (Editors)Springer Science+Business Media Inc.2005ISBN 0-387-02108-6 (HC), ISBN 0-387-23903-0 (eBook)EUR 64.95 SFR 115.00 GBP 50.00 US $74.95 (Hardcover)i-xx 264 pp., 100 figs.Review DOI 10.1108/03684920610688531

This is a monograph that is designed to reach a readership of researchers and graduate students in engineering and science. It will also provide a very useful text for many cyberneticians and systemists who have interests in the areas covered and have a mathematical background to graduate level. It has the advantage to the readers of this journal and to others that the authors class the book as being interdisciplinary and not applicable to only science and engineering.

The monograph has been written in a structured format and is delivered with its content split into two parts:

(1) Theory of Language Measure and Supervisory Control.

(2) Engineering and Software Applications of Language Measure and Supervisory Control.

Part 1 has four chapters and Part II has five chapters. It has the advantage that each chapter is self-contained but suffers from the disadvantage that this means that there in a loss of continuity and readability. It is almost inevitable that with three editors and various invited authors the book comes over as a compilation of scientific papers rather like the proceedings of a themed workshop. Each section is, however, clearly written and could profitably be used in a well designed course of study. Indeed the authors report current research from the proceedings of national and international conferences. The publishers are correct in writing that “never before has there been a quantitative approach designed to optimise supervisory decision and control for discrete systems”. In that respect, the text is certainly unique.

Each chapter has an introduction and a contents list as well as a useful summary and reference list.

Researchers in this field will appreciate that the work reported is leading-edge. It provides information about some of the most recent advances and applications. It also forms a major source for course studies as well as being an excellent reference for readers who wish to learn more about this approach to the study of supervisory decision and control for discrete event systems.

W.R. HowardComputer Supplies und Zuberhor, Dinslaken, Germany

A number of books published by the British Computer Society (BCS) that are both topical and informed have been received for review. These books have been chosen to cover many topics in IT and Management. They are regarded as of importance to cyberneticians and systemists with interests in management science and in business. From the titles reviewed the following, published between 2004 and 2006 are well-worth consideration: