Detectability in Discrete Event Systems Using Unbounded Petri Nets

This paper investigated the verification of detectability for discrete event systems based on a class of partially observed unbounded Petri nets. In an unbounded net system, all transitions and partial places are assumed to be unobservable. The system administrator can only observe a few observable places, i.e., the number of tokens at these places can be observed, allowing for the estimation of current and subsequent states. The concepts of quasi-observable transitions, truly unobservable transitions, and partial markings are used to construct a basis coverability graph. According to this graph, four sufficient and necessary conditions of detectability are proposed. Correspondingly, a specific example is proposed to prove that the detectability can be verified in the unbounded net system. Furthermore, based on the conclusion of detectability, the system’s ability to detect critical states was explored by using the basis coverability graph, called C-detectability. Two real-world examples are proposed to show that the detectability of discrete event systems has not only pioneered new research methods, but also demonstrated that the real conditions faced by this method are more general, and it has overcome the limitations of relying only on the ideal conditions of bounded systems for verification.