Section: Application Domains

Discrete event systems (manufacturing systems, networks)

One important class of applications of max-plus algebra comes from discrete event dynamical systems  [56]. In particular, modelling timed systems subject to synchronization and concurrency phenomena leads to studying dynamical systems that are non-smooth, but which have remarkable structural properties (nonexpansiveness in certain metrics , monotonicity) or combinatorial properties. Algebraic methods allow one to obtain analytical expressions for performance measures (throughput, waiting time, etc). A recent application, to emergency call centers, can be found in  [46].