Deadlock Prevention for a Cognitive Conveyor with Overlapping Intersections

The Cognitive Conveyor consists of small-scale, multidirectional transport modules, each  much  smaller  than  the  good  to  convey.  Connected  to  a  larger  matrix,  these modules  are  capable  of  solving  any  possible  transportation  task,  such  as  sorting, merging  and  sequencing.  Previous  work  addressed  the  routing  algorithms  and  the forming of neighborhoods of modules. 

Planned routes and their intersections may overlap on the cognitive conveyor. As this paper shows, the overlapping of intersections leads to a high risk of local deadlocks. This paper discusses how these deadlocks can be prevented.