Active learning based laboratory towards engineering education 4.0

Universities have a relevant and essential key role to ensure knowledge and development of competencies in the current fourth industrial revolution called Industry 4.0. The Industry 4.0 promotes a set of digital technologies to allow the convergence between the information technology and the operation technology towards smarter factories. Under such new framework, multiple initiatives are being carried out worldwide as response of such evolution, particularly, from the engineering education point of view. In this regard, this paper introduces the initiative that is being carried out at the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain, called Industry 4.0 Technologies Laboratory, I4Tech Lab. The I4Tech laboratory represents a technological environment for the academic, research and industrial promotion of related technologies. First, in this work, some of the main aspects considered in the definition of the so called engineering education 4.0 are discussed. Next, the proposed laboratory architecture, objectives as well as considered technologies are explained. Finally, the basis of the proposed academic method supported by an active learning approach is presented.Postprint (published version

Continuous maintenance and the future – Foundations and technological challenges

High value and long life products require continuous maintenance throughout their life cycle to achieve required performance with optimum through-life cost. This paper presents foundations and technologies required to offer the maintenance service. Component and system level degradation science, assessment and modelling along with life cycle ‘big data’ analytics are the two most important knowledge and skill base required for the continuous maintenance. Advanced computing and visualisation technologies will improve efficiency of the maintenance and reduce through-life cost of the product. Future of continuous maintenance within the Industry 4.0 context also identifies the role of IoT, standards and cyber security

Business Case and Technology Analysis for 5G Low Latency Applications

A large number of new consumer and industrial applications are likely to change the classic operator's business models and provide a wide range of new markets to enter. This article analyses the most relevant 5G use cases that require ultra-low latency, from both technical and business perspectives. Low latency services pose challenging requirements to the network, and to fulfill them operators need to invest in costly changes in their network. In this sense, it is not clear whether such investments are going to be amortized with these new business models. In light of this, specific applications and requirements are described and the potential market benefits for operators are analysed. Conclusions show that operators have clear opportunities to add value and position themselves strongly with the increasing number of services to be provided by 5G.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Discrete event simulation and virtual reality use in industry: new opportunities and future trends

This paper reviews the area of combined discrete event simulation (DES) and virtual reality (VR) use within industry. While establishing a state of the art for progress in this area, this paper makes the case for VR DES as the vehicle of choice for complex data analysis through interactive simulation models, highlighting both its advantages and current limitations. This paper reviews active research topics such as VR and DES real-time integration, communication protocols, system design considerations, model validation, and applications of VR and DES. While summarizing future research directions for this technology combination, the case is made for smart factory adoption of VR DES as a new platform for scenario testing and decision making. It is put that in order for VR DES to fully meet the visualization requirements of both Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet visions of digital manufacturing, further research is required in the areas of lower latency image processing, DES delivery as a service, gesture recognition for VR DES interaction, and linkage of DES to real-time data streams and Big Data sets

Aluminium Process Fault Detection and Diagnosis

The challenges in developing a fault detection and diagnosis system for industrial applications are not inconsiderable, particularly complex materials processing operations such as aluminium smelting. However, the organizing into groups of the various fault detection and diagnostic systems of the aluminium smelting process can assist in the identification of the key elements of an effective monitoring system. This paper reviews aluminium process fault detection and diagnosis systems and proposes a taxonomy that includes four key elements: knowledge, techniques, usage frequency, and results presentation. Each element is explained together with examples of existing systems. A fault detection and diagnosis system developed based on the proposed taxonomy is demonstrated using aluminium smelting data. A potential new strategy for improving fault diagnosis is discussed based on the ability of the new technology, augmented reality, to augment operators’ view of an industrial plant, so that it permits a situation-oriented action in real working environments

A Fully Integrated Open Solution for the Remote Operation of Pilot Plants

Nowadays remote access to systems in the instrumentation and measurement fields is both a reality and a challenge. There is a growing interest in replacing manual actions performed on site by remote actions carried out from anywhere around the world. To do that, besides the availability of suitable communication networks, it is necessary for the elements involved in the network to recognize each other, this latter task perhaps being the most complex one of the two. Integrating different hardware/software from different manufacturers into a single system with controlled remote access is not a trivial task. This paper presents a fully integrated open solution for the operation of pilot plants (scaled down, laboratory level industrial plants operated in university and other environments) using open access hardware/software on public networks. The proposed solution is independent of the nature of the pilot plant and its elements and can therefore be considered standard. In order to illustrate the capabilities of the proposed solution, two different types of pilot plant are presented