Petri nets approach for designing the migration process towards industrial cyber-physical production systems

Presently, many industries are facing strong challenges related to the demand of customized and high-quality products. These pressures lead to internal company's conflicts where current production systems have a rigid structure, forcing the company into a organization stall when a fast product change is required. Therefore, the need to smoothly migrate traditional systems into more feature-rich and cost-effective systems, namely Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS), became a highly discussed topic. PERFoRM project focuses the conceptual transformation of existing production systems towards plug\&produce ones to achieve flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing environments. In particular, the smooth migration process is considered crucial to effectively transpose existing production systems into truly CPPS. This paper describes the use of Petri nets to design the migration process under the PERFoRM perspective, taking advantage of its inherent capabilities to design, analyze, simulate and validate such complex processes.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 680435.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Decision support for build-to-order supply chain management through multiobjective optimization

This paper aims to identify the gaps in decision-making support based on multiobjective optimization for build-to-order supply chain management (BTOSCM). To this end, it reviews the literature available on modelling build-to-order supply chains (BTO-SC) with the focus on adopting multiobjective optimization (MOO) techniques as a decision support tool. The literature has been classified based on the nature of the decisions in different part of the supply chain, and the key decision areas across a typical BTO-SC are discussed in detail. Available software packages suitable for supporting decision making in BTO supply chains are also identified and their related solutions are outlined. The gap between the modelling and optimization techniques developed in the literature and the decision support needed in practice are highlighted and future research directions to better exploit the decision support capabilities of MOO are proposed

Computational tasks in robotics and factory automation

The design of Manufacturing Planning and Control Systems (MPCSs) — systems that negotiate with Customers and Suppliers to exchange products in return for money in order to generate profit, is discussed.\ud \ud The computational task of MPCS components are systematically specified as a starting point for the development of computational engines, as computer systems and programs, that execute the specified computation. Key issues are the overwhelming complexity and frequently changing application of MPCSs

Internet of Things and Their Coming Perspectives: A Real Options Approach

Internet of things is developing at a dizzying rate, and companies are forced to implement it in order to maintain their operational efficiency. The high flexibility inherent to these technologies makes it necessary to apply an appropriate measure, which properly assesses risks and rewards. Real options methodology is available as a tool which fits the conditions, both economic and strategic, under which investment in internet of things technologies is developed. The contribution of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it offers an adequate tool to assess the strategic value of investment in internet of things technologies. On the other hand, it tries to raise awareness among managers of internet of things technologies because of their potential to contribute to economic and social progress. The results of the research described in this paper highlight the importance of taking action as quickly as possible if companies want to obtain the best possible performance. In order to enhance the understanding of internet of things technologies investment, this paper provides a methodology to assess the implementation of internet of things technologies by using the real options approach; in particular, the option to expand has been proposed for use in the decision-making process

Decision support for build-to-order supply chain management through multiobjective optimization

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in International Journal of Production Economics. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2010 Elsevier B.V.This paper aims to identify the gaps in decision-making support based on multiobjective optimization (MOO) for build-to-order supply chain management (BTO-SCM). To this end, it reviews the literature available on modelling build-to-order supply chains (BTO-SC) with the focus on adopting MOO techniques as a decision support tool. The literature has been classified based on the nature of the decisions in different part of the supply chain, and the key decision areas across a typical BTO-SC are discussed in detail. Available software packages suitable for supporting decision making in BTO supply chains are also identified and their related solutions are outlined. The gap between the modelling and optimization techniques developed in the literature and the decision support needed in practice are highlighted. Future research directions to better exploit the decision support capabilities of MOO are proposed. These include: reformulation of the extant optimization models with a MOO perspective, development of decision supports for interfaces not involving manufacturers, development of scenarios around service-based objectives, development of efficient solution tools, considering the interests of each supply chain party as a separate objective to account for fair treatment of their requirements, and applying the existing methodologies on real-life data sets.Brunel Research Initiative and Enterprise Fund (BRIEF

Technology for large space systems: A special bibliography with indexes (supplement 04)

This bibliography lists 259 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between July 1, 1980 and December 31, 1980. Its purpose is to provide information to the researcher, manager, and designer in technology development and mission design in the area of the Large Space Systems Technology Program. Subject matter is grouped according to systems, interactive analysis and design. Structural concepts, control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, propulsion, solar power satellite systems, and flight experiments

Performance Analysis of An Experimental Micro Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS)

Due to advanced technology, it is very important the performance of FMS for sensivity, production quality, repeatability and energy consumptions. Flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) are the most automated and technologically sophisticated of the machine cell types used to implement cellular manufacturing. An FMS usually has multiple automated stations and is capable of variable routings among stations, while its flexibility allows it to operate as a mixed model system. The FMS concept integrates many of the advanced technologies that we met in previous units, including flexible automation, CNC machines, distributed computer control, and automated material handling and storage. In this experimental investigation, vibration and accelerations analysis of an experimental FMS with 5 degrees of freedom robot manipulator are presented. Firstly, experimental measurement of accelerations and vibrations are trained with a vibration measurement system and sensors. However, the process of production of part is a cycle of exact production time

An Agent Based Market Design Methodology for Combinatorial Auctions

Auction mechanisms have attracted a great deal of interest and have been used in diverse e-marketplaces. In particular, combinatorial auctions have the potential to play an important role in electronic transactions. Therefore, diverse combinatorial auction market types have been proposed to satisfy market needs. These combinatorial auction types have diverse market characteristics, which require an effective market design approach. This study proposes a comprehensive and systematic market design methodology for combinatorial auctions based on three phases: market architecture design, auction rule design, and winner determination design. A market architecture design is for designing market architecture types by Backward Chain Reasoning. Auction rules design is to design transaction rules for auctions. The specific auction process type is identified by the Backward Chain Reasoning process. Winner determination design is about determining the decision model for selecting optimal bids and auctioneers. Optimization models are identified by Forward Chain Reasoning. Also, we propose an agent based combinatorial auction market design system using Backward and Forward Chain Reasoning. Then we illustrate a design process for the general n-bilateral combinatorial auction market. This study serves as a guideline for practical implementation of combinatorial auction markets design.Combinatorial Auction, Market Design Methodology, Market Architecture Design, Auction Rule Design, Winner Determination Design, Agent-Based System

Experimental Validation of a Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing Probe Model and Sound Field Optimization

New manufacturing technologies are developed to facilitate flexible product designs and production processes. However, the quality of the final products should not be compromised, especially for safety prioritized industries, e.g. aerospace industry. The assessment of product quality and integrity lies on various nondestructive inspection methods and the ultrasonic testing method, among others, is widely used as an effective approach. The phased array technique in the ultrasonic testing area shows more advantages comparing to conventional ones and is revealing more benefits to industrial applications. To incorporate new technique into practical operations, it needs to be qualified with practical experiments. Due to the extensive costs and considerable challenges with experimental works, the necessity of researching on numerical simulation models arises and several models had therefore been developed. The numerical simulation model implemented in the software, simSUNDT, developed at the Scientific Center of NDT (SCeNDT) at Chalmer University of Technology is one of these models for ultrasonic inspection. However, the validity of the models should be proved before supporting or replacing the experiments, and this validation work should be accomplished by experiments ultimately.In the current work, the main purpose is to further validate the phased array probe model in simSUNDT by comparing simulation results with corresponding experiments. An experimental platform is built with the intention to fully control the operation conditions and the set of testing results. Well-defined artificial defects in test specimens are considered in both simulations and experiments. Comparisons in the end validate the current phased array probe model and could be treated as an alternative to experiments.With the aid of this validated probe model, optimization of the generated sound field from a phased array probe is then conducted. The optimization aims at searching for a proper combination of main beam angle and focus distance of the probe at this stage, so that the echo amplitude from a certain defect reaches its potential maximum

Advanced Radio Frequency Antennas for Modern Communication and Medical Systems

The main objective of this book is to present novel radio frequency (RF) antennas for 5G, IOT, and medical applications. The book is divided into four sections that present the main topics of radio frequency antennas. The rapid growth in development of cellular wireless communication systems over the last twenty years has resulted in most of world population owning smartphones, smart watches, I-pads, and other RF communication devices. Efficient compact wideband antennas are crucial in RF communication devices. This book presents information on planar antennas, cavity antennas, Vivaldi antennas, phased arrays, MIMO antennas, beamforming phased array reconfigurable Pabry-Perot cavity antennas, and time modulated linear array