Simulation in automation software testing

Simulointisovellus testauksen apuvälineenä tehostaa ja selkeyttää automaatiosovelluksen testausvaiheita ja järjestelmän tehdastestausta. Automaatiojärjestelmien tehdastestauksissa sekä toimittajan että asiakkaan tulee olla ajan tasalla toteutettavista testeistä ja tapahtumista. Ulkoinen simulointisovellus selkeällä informatiivisella käyttöliittymällä antaa asiakkaalle huomattavasti selkeämmän kuvan tapahtumista, kuin se että testaaja simuloi rajapintojen informaatiota suoraan ohjelmoitavalle logiikalle. Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena on luoda laitteistoriippumaton simulointisovellus automaatiojärjestelmän I/O-rajapinnan muuttujien simulointiin. Laitteistoriippumattomuudella tarkoitetaan universaalia, abstraktia tiedonsiirtomenetelmää simulointisovelluksen ja logiikan välillä. Tämän lisäksi muita vaatimuksia ovat simulointisovelluksen helppokäyttöisyys, käyttöönotettavuus ja mukautuvuus, joiden avulla se on käytettävissä tehokkaasti koko automaatioprojektin elinkaaren ajan. Työn teoriaosassa tutkitaan kirjallisuuteen pohjautuen metodeita ongelman ratkaisemiseksi. Aihealueita simuloinnin toteuttamiseen ovat: tehdasprosessien toiminta ja kuvaukset, automaatiojärjestelmän horisontaalinen ja vertikaalinen integraatio ISA-95 mallin mukaisesti, ohjelmoitavan logiikan toiminta laitteisto- ja sovellustasolla, laitteiden välinen tiedonsiirto automaatiojärjestelmissä, ohjelmistotuotannon menetelmät sovelluksen kehittämiseksi, ohjelmistotestauksen menetelmät ja tehdastestaus sekä testausten dokumentointi. Työssä päädyttiin käyttämään OPC UA (OPC Unified Architecture) -standardin mukaista tiedonsiirtoa simulointisovelluksen ja logiikan välillä. Tämä tarjoaa mahdollisuuden laitteistoriippumattomaan tiedonsiirtoon palvelimen ja asiakkaan välillä, tarjoten abstraktin palvelupohjaisen mallin. Suunniteltu simulointiohjelmisto on Microsoft Excel OPC UA asiakas, joka rakentuu C#/.Net pinon päälle. Ohjelmisto suunniteltiin annetuista lähtötiedoista käyttäen ohjelmistotuotannon menetelmiä aina toteutusvaiheeseen saakka. Toteutettu simulointiohjelmiston prototyyppi kykenee muodostamaan simulointiprojektin olemassa olevista automaatiosuunnittelun lähtötiedoista, jolloin simuloinnin käyttöönottaminen vaatii ainoastaan ohjelmoitavan logiikan OPC UA -rajapinnan käyttöönottamisen palvelimena ja simulointisovelluksen yhdistämisen palvelimeen. Menetelmällä onnistuttiin simuloimaan Siemens S7-1500 –sarjan logiikan I/O -rajapinnan muuttujia vaatimusten mukaisesti.The simulation software as a testing tool improves and clarifies testing phases of an automation software and factory acceptance testing. In the factory acceptance testing of automation systems, both the supplier and the customer must be up to date on the tests and events. External I/O -interface simulation application provided by the supplier engineer with a clear informative user interface gives the customer a better picture of the events, unlike a simulation directly to the programmable logic controller I/O -variables. The aim of this master’s thesis is to create a hardware-independent simulation software for simulating the I/O -interface of the automation system. Hardware independence refers to a universal, abstract data transfer method between the simulation software and the programmable logic controller. Other requirements for simulation systems include user-friendly interface, initialization and adaptability, which make the simulation system available and efficient throughout the lifetime of the automation project. In the theoretical part of this thesis, a literature review is executed to present different methods to solve the problem. The main topics on creating a simulation software are operation and descriptions of factory processes, horizontal and vertical integration of ISA-95 model, hardware and software level of programmable logic controllers (PLC), software production methods for developing simulation software, software testing, factory acceptance testing and documentation of testing. Based on the literary review, the OPC UA (OCP Unified Architecture) communication standard was chosen for data transfer between the simulation software and PLC. This provides hardware-independent communication between the PLC -server and the simulation client, providing an abstract service-based model. The designed simulation software was a Microsoft Excel OPC UA client, built on the C # / .Net stack. The software was designed from the given requirements using software production methods. The implemented prototype of the simulation software is capable of creating a simulation project from existing automation design data, where the usage of simulation requires only the hardware configuration of the PLC as OPC UA server and connecting the simulation client application to the server. The methods given in the literary review succeeded in simulating the I/O variables of the Siemens S7-1500 series logic controller according to the requirements

Improving connectivity for runtime simulation of automation systems via OPC UA

Nowadays industrial companies need more agile and adaptable production systems to manufacture customized products faster and with a high level of process optimization. This agility in production requires flexible automation systems. One key capability such systems need to exhibit is effective connectivity and interoperability with different vendor-specific software and hardware tools, which often presents difficulties. This paper shares results and research experience in applying OPC UA technology, to establish communication between Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based control systems and virtual engineering tool (Onevue) to enable interactive support and data collection during production. This paper provides an overview of the OPC UA client development for the Onevue. Based on the case study provided in the paper, results of the OPC UA client-server communication is reported

Development of a supervisory internet of things (IoT) system for factories of the future

Big data is of great importance to stakeholders, including manufacturers, business partners, consumers, government. It leads to many benefits, including improving productivity and reducing the cost of products by using digitalised automation equipment and manufacturing information systems. Some other benefits include using social media to build the agile cooperation between suppliers and retailers, product designers and production engineers, timely tracking customers’ feedbacks, reducing environmental impacts by using Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to monitor energy consumption and noise level. However, manufacturing big data integration has been neglected. Many open-source big data software provides complicated capabilities to manage big data software for various data-driven applications for manufacturing. In this research, a manufacturing big data integration system, named as Data Control Module (DCM) has been designed and developed. The system can securely integrate data silos from various manufacturing systems and control the data for different manufacturing applications. Firstly, the architecture of manufacturing big data system has been proposed, including three parts: manufacturing data source, manufacturing big data ecosystem and manufacturing applications. Secondly, nine essential components have been identified in the big data ecosystem to build various manufacturing big data solutions. Thirdly, a conceptual framework is proposed based on the big data ecosystem for the aim of DCM. Moreover, the DCM has been designed and developed with the selected big data software to integrate all the three varieties of manufacturing data, including non-structured, semi-structured and structured. The DCM has been validated on three general manufacturing domains, including product design and development, production and business. The DCM cannot only be used for the legacy manufacturing software but may also be used in emerging areas such as digital twin and digital thread. The limitations of DCM have been analysed, and further research directions have also been discussed