Simulation and Control of a Cyber-Physical System under IEC 61499 Standard

IEC 61499 standard provides an architecture for control systems using function blocks (FB), languages, and semantics. These devices can be interconnected and communicate with each other. Each device contains several resources and algorithms with a communication FB at the end, which can be created, configured, and deleted without affecting other resources. Physical element can be represented by a FB that encapsulates the functionality (data/events, process, return data/events) in a single module that can be reused and combined. This work presents a simplified implementation of a modular control system using a low-cost device. In the prototyping of the application, we use 4diac to control, model and validate the implementation of the system on a programmable logic controller. It is proved that this approach can be used to model and simulate a cyber-physical system as a single element or in a networked combination. The control models provide a reusable FB design.We acknowledge the financial support of CIDEM, R&D unit funded by FCT – Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, under the Project UID/EMS/0615/2019, and it was supported by FCT, through INEGI and LAETA, under project UIDB/50022/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Model-Driven Engineering Approach for ROS using Ontological Semantics

This paper presents a novel ontology-driven software engineering approach for the development of industrial robotics control software. It introduces the ReApp architecture that synthesizes model-driven engineering with semantic technologies to facilitate the development and reuse of ROS-based components and applications. In ReApp, we show how different ontological classification systems for hardware, software, and capabilities help developers in discovering suitable software components for their tasks and in applying them correctly. The proposed model-driven tooling enables developers to work at higher abstraction levels and fosters automatic code generation. It is underpinned by ontologies to minimize discontinuities in the development workflow, with an integrated development environment presenting a seamless interface to the user. First results show the viability and synergy of the selected approach when searching for or developing software with reuse in mind.Comment: Presented at DSLRob 2015 (arXiv:1601.00877), Stefan Zander, Georg Heppner, Georg Neugschwandtner, Ramez Awad, Marc Essinger and Nadia Ahmed: A Model-Driven Engineering Approach for ROS using Ontological Semantic

Summer school on intelligent agents in automation: Hands-on educational experience on deploying industrial agents

Cyber-physical systems constitutes a framework to develop intelligent, distributed, resilient, collaborative and cooperative systems, promoting the fusion of computational entities and physical devices. Agent technology plays a crucial role to develop this kind of systems by offering a decentralized, distributed, modular, robust and reconfigurable control structure. This paper describes the implementation of a summer school aiming to enhance the participants' knowledge in the field of multi-agent systems applied to industrial environments, being able to gain the necessary theoretical and practical skills to develop real industrial agent based applications. This is accomplished in an international framework where individual knowledge and experiences are shared in a complementary level.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integration of existing IEC 61131-3 systems in an IEC 61499 distributed solution

The IEC 61499 standard allows to model and design new generation control systems, providing innovative concepts of software engineering (such as abstraction, encapsulation, reuse) to the world of control engineering. The industrial reception of the standard, however, is still in an early stage, also because its introduction results in the adoption of a programming paradigm profoundly different than the widespread IEC 61131-3. This paper presents a method for the integration of the two standards, that allows to exploit the benefits of both. The proposed architecture is based on the parallel execution of both environments that interact with each other through some specific interfaces. A test implementation of the architecture is also presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed solution

Interaction of Mechatronic Modules in Distributed Technological Installations

The article deals with the interaction of mechatronic devices in real time through events and messages. The interaction of distributed network devices is necessary to coordinate their work, including synchronization when implementing a distributed algorithm. The approach in the development of a distributed control system (DCS) for mechatronic devices based on the IEC 61499 standard has been analyzed. Using only a LAN for interaction purposes is not always justified, since messages transmitted over a LAN do not provide transmission determinism. To eliminate this problem, a fast local network is needed, which would not utilize resources of the main computer and hardware (e.g., based on the model of terminal machines) to carry out a network communication. It is proposed to implement LAN controllers on the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platform. Data-strobe coding (DS coding) with a signal level of LVDS was used for keeping the transmitted data intact and improving the overall reliability of the systems

Software framework for the development of context-aware reconfigurable systems

In this project we propose a new software framework for the development of context-aware and secure controlling software of distributed reconfigurable systems. Context-awareness is a key feature allowing the adaptation of systems behaviour according to the changing environment. We introduce a new definition of the term “context” for reconfigurable systems then we define a new context modelling and reasoning approach. Afterwards, we define a meta-model of context-aware reconfigurable applications that paves the way to the proposed framework. The proposed framework has a three-layer architecture: reconfiguration, context control, and services layer, where each layer has its well-defined role. We define also a new secure conversation protocol between distributed trustless parts based on the blockchain technology as well as the elliptic curve cryptography. To get better correctness and deployment guarantees of applications models in early development stages, we propose a new UML profile called GR-UML to add new semantics allowing the modelling of probabilistic scenarios running under memory and energy constraints, then we propose a methodology using transformations between the GR-UML, the GR-TNCES Petri nets formalism, and the IEC 61499 function blocks. A software tool implementing the methodology concepts is developed. To show the suitability of the mentioned contributions two case studies (baggage handling system and microgrids) are considered.In diesem Projekt schlagen wir ein Framework für die Entwicklung von kontextbewussten, sicheren Anwendungen von verteilten rekonfigurierbaren Systemen vor. Kontextbewusstheit ist eine Schlüsseleigenschaft, die die Anpassung des Systemverhaltens an die sich ändernde Umgebung ermöglicht. Wir führen eine Definition des Begriffs ``Kontext" für rekonfigurierbare Systeme ein und definieren dann einen Kontextmodellierungs- und Reasoning-Ansatz. Danach definieren wir ein Metamodell für kontextbewusste rekonfigurierbare Anwendungen, das den Weg zum vorgeschlagenen Framework ebnet. Das Framework hat eine dreischichtige Architektur: Rekonfigurations-, Kontextkontroll- und Dienste-Schicht, wobei jede Schicht ihre wohldefinierte Rolle hat. Wir definieren auch ein sicheres Konversationsprotokoll zwischen verteilten Teilen, das auf der Blockchain-Technologie sowie der elliptischen Kurven-Kryptographie basiert. Um bessere Korrektheits- und Einsatzgarantien für Anwendungsmodelle zu erhalten, schlagen wir ein UML-Profil namens GR-UML vor, um Semantik umzufassen, die die Modellierung probabilistischer Szenarien unter Speicher- und Energiebeschränkungen ermöglicht. Dann schlagen wir eine Methodik vor, die Transformationen zwischen GR-UML, dem GR-TNCES-Petrinetz-Formalismus und den IEC 61499-Funktionsblöcken verwendet. Es wird ein Software entwickelt, das die Konzepte der Methodik implementiert. Um die Eignung der genannten Beiträge zu zeigen, werden zwei Fallstudien betrachtet

An architecture to integrate IEC 61131-3 systems in an IEC 61499 distributed solution

The IEC 61499 standard has been developed to allow the modeling and design of distributed control systems, providing advanced concepts of software engineering (such as abstraction and encapsulation) to the world of control engineering. The introduction of this standard in already existing control environments poses challenges, since programs written using the widespread IEC 61131-3 programming standard cannot be directly executed in a fully IEC 61499 environment without reengineering effort. In order to solve this problem, this paper presents an architecture to integrate modules of the two standards, allowing the exploitation of the benefits of both. The proposed architecture is based on the coexistence of control software of the two standards. Modules written in one standard interact with some particular interfaces that encapsulate functionalities and information to be exchanged with the other standard. In particular, the architecture permits to utilize available run-times without modification, it allows the reuse of software modules, and it utilizes existing features of the standards. A methodology to integrate IEC 61131-3 modules in an IEC 61499 distributed solution based on such architecture is also developed, and it is described via a case study to prove feasibility and benefits. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed solution does not add substantial load or delays to the system when compared to an IEC 61131-3 based solution. By acting on task period, it can achieve performances similar to an IEC 61499 solution

A system development methodology for embedded applications

In recent years, Singapore’s manufacturing sector has contributed more than a quarter of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has established global leadership positions in several manufacturing areas such as electronics, Information Technology (IT) and industrial automation. The Singapore Economic Review Committee (ERC) recommendation states that “software and embedded systems that drive products are one of the most important technologies for the manufacturing sector. “ With the increasing adoption of automated and intelligent products, embedded systems have emerged as a crucial technology for Singapore. However, the development of embedded applications is not a trivial undertaking as it can usually involve multi-discipline parties and different application platforms. Most embedded application developments use either vendor specific or desktop based methodologies. Vendor specific methodologies constrain the company to rely on the specific vendor's solutions, whereas desktop-based methodologies are not well suited to embedded application development. Therefore, this research aims to develop a standard-based system development methodology for embedded applications. The research programme comprises 5 stages. The first stage reviews the existing system development methodologies for embedded applications. The next stage formulates the proposed conceptual methodology followed by the development of the proof-of-concept tool to demonstrate the merits of the proposed approach. The methodology is then tested and evaluated respectively by using industrial experiments and feedback from a workshop. The final stage refines the methodology based on the feedback and presents the final system development methodology. The research has provided a sound foundation which future research in methodology for embedded applications to develop further.Eng