Contents

## **Preface XI**


Preface

bility, to mention a few.

Petri Nets have been widely used in different areas of science and technology since they were first presented in the middle of the last century by Dr. Carl Adam Petri. It is believed

Since then, Petri Networks have gained great acceptance in the design of manufacturing processes, logistic processes, software design, communication protocols, modern control

Dra. Alcaraz-Mejia and I have been involved with Petri Nets since our master and PhD degrees from 2000 onwards. We used Petri Nets as a way to represent the dynamics of abstract discreteevent systems. Since then, we have used this modeling tool in our research activities in the areas of fault prediction and detection, observability and controllability analysis, to mention a few. Also, we have used Petri Nets as an instrument to teach the student models of concurren‐ cy, programming for embedded systems, distributed systems, data modeling and so on.

The graphic nature of the models in Petri Nets makes their use in different areas of science and engineering very attractive, since the models can be obtained in a very intuitive and natural way. Additionally, Petri Nets have a solid mathematical base that comes from linear algebra, vector spaces and linguistic analysis, among others. This allows a formal analysis of important properties such as liveness, interlocking, reachability, controllability or observa‐

The aim of this book is to present a collection of works to show the usability of Petri Nets in different areas of science and engineering. Whenever possible, models and graphics illus‐ trate the concepts developed in the chapters. The focus was to develop intuitive ideas and to

We would like to thank Ms. Lada Bozic, Author Service Manager from INTECHOPEN, for her dedication and support during this process. With her help and coaching, we had incred‐

We hope that the readers found this book entitled "Petri Nets in Science and Engineering"

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Jalisco, Mexico

**Dr. Raul Campos-Rodriguez**

**Dra. Mildreth Alcaraz-Mejia**

ITESO University, Jalisco, Mexico

School of Engineering and Sciences

Electronics, Systems and Informatic Department

Part-time Professor

Research Professor

Western Region

that he planned to use Petri Nets to represent chemical reactions.

motivate the reader, as much as possible, to use Petri Nets

ible guidance to do our best effort to assure the quality of this book.

illustrative and useful for their work in science and engineering.

theory, artificial intelligence and, of course, chemical process simulations.
