Introduction to Discrete Event Systems

This unique textbook comprehensively introduces the field of discrete event systems, offering a breadth of coverage that makes the material accessible to readers of varied backgrounds. The book emphasizes a unified modeling framework that transcends specific application areas, linking the following topics in a coherent manner: language and automata theory, supervisory control, Petri net theory, Markov chains and queueing theory, discrete-event simulation, and concurrent estimation techniques. 

Topics and features:

• detailed treatment of automata and language theory in the context of discrete event systems, including application to state estimation and diagnosis
• comprehensive coverage of centralized and decentralized supervisory control of partially-observed systems
• timed models, including timed automata and hybrid automata
• stochastic models for discrete event systems and controlled Markov chains
• discrete event simulation
• an introduction to stochastic hybrid systems
• sensitivity analysis and optimization of discrete event and hybrid systems
• new in the third edition: opacity properties, enhanced coverage of supervisory control, overview of latest software tools

This proven textbook is essential to advanced-level students and researchers in a variety of disciplines where the study of discrete event systems is relevant: control, communications, computer engineering, computer science, manufacturing engineering, transportation networks, operations research, and industrial engineering.

​Christos G. Cassandras is Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Professor of Systems Engineering, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University.  

Stéphane Lafortune is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.