14,689 research outputs found
Middleware platform for distributed applications incorporating robots, sensors and the cloud
Cyber-physical systems in the factory of the future
will consist of cloud-hosted software governing an agile
production process executed by autonomous mobile robots
and controlled by analyzing the data from a vast number of
sensors. CPSs thus operate on a distributed production floor
infrastructure and the set-up continuously changes with each
new manufacturing task. In this paper, we present our OSGibased
middleware that abstracts the deployment of servicebased
CPS software components on the underlying distributed
platform comprising robots, actuators, sensors and the cloud.
Moreover, our middleware provides specific support to develop
components based on artificial neural networks, a technique that
recently became very popular for sensor data analytics and robot
actuation. We demonstrate a system where a robot takes actions
based on the input from sensors in its vicinity
Identifying smart design attributes for Industry 4.0 customization using a clustering Genetic Algorithm
Industry 4.0 aims at achieving mass customization at a
mass production cost. A key component to realizing this is accurate
prediction of customer needs and wants, which is however a
challenging issue due to the lack of smart analytics tools. This
paper investigates this issue in depth and then develops a predictive
analytic framework for integrating cloud computing, big data
analysis, business informatics, communication technologies, and
digital industrial production systems. Computational intelligence
in the form of a cluster k-means approach is used to manage
relevant big data for feeding potential customer needs and wants
to smart designs for targeted productivity and customized mass
production. The identification of patterns from big data is achieved
with cluster k-means and with the selection of optimal attributes
using genetic algorithms. A car customization case study shows
how it may be applied and where to assign new clusters with
growing knowledge of customer needs and wants. This approach
offer a number of features suitable to smart design in realizing
Industry 4.0
On Using Blockchains for Safety-Critical Systems
Innovation in the world of today is mainly driven by software. Companies need
to continuously rejuvenate their product portfolios with new features to stay
ahead of their competitors. For example, recent trends explore the application
of blockchains to domains other than finance. This paper analyzes the
state-of-the-art for safety-critical systems as found in modern vehicles like
self-driving cars, smart energy systems, and home automation focusing on
specific challenges where key ideas behind blockchains might be applicable.
Next, potential benefits unlocked by applying such ideas are presented and
discussed for the respective usage scenario. Finally, a research agenda is
outlined to summarize remaining challenges for successfully applying
blockchains to safety-critical cyber-physical systems
Causal Repair of Learning-enabled Cyber-physical Systems
Models of actual causality leverage domain knowledge to generate convincing
diagnoses of events that caused an outcome. It is promising to apply these
models to diagnose and repair run-time property violations in cyber-physical
systems (CPS) with learning-enabled components (LEC). However, given the high
diversity and complexity of LECs, it is challenging to encode domain knowledge
(e.g., the CPS dynamics) in a scalable actual causality model that could
generate useful repair suggestions. In this paper, we focus causal diagnosis on
the input/output behaviors of LECs. Specifically, we aim to identify which
subset of I/O behaviors of the LEC is an actual cause for a property violation.
An important by-product is a counterfactual version of the LEC that repairs the
run-time property by fixing the identified problematic behaviors. Based on this
insights, we design a two-step diagnostic pipeline: (1) construct and
Halpern-Pearl causality model that reflects the dependency of property outcome
on the component's I/O behaviors, and (2) perform a search for an actual cause
and corresponding repair on the model. We prove that our pipeline has the
following guarantee: if an actual cause is found, the system is guaranteed to
be repaired; otherwise, we have high probabilistic confidence that the LEC
under analysis did not cause the property violation. We demonstrate that our
approach successfully repairs learned controllers on a standard OpenAI Gym
benchmark
Attribute Identification and Predictive Customisation Using Fuzzy Clustering and Genetic Search for Industry 4.0 Environments
Today´s factory involves more services and customisation. A paradigm shift is towards “Industry 4.0” (i4) aiming at realising mass customisation at a mass production cost. However, there is a lack of tools for customer informatics. This paper addresses this issue and develops a predictive analytics framework integrating big data analysis and business informatics, using Computational Intelligence (CI). In particular, a fuzzy c-means is used for pattern recognition, as well as managing relevant big data for feeding potential customer needs and wants for improved productivity at the design stage for customised mass production. The selection of patterns from big data is performed using a genetic algorithm with fuzzy c-means, which helps with clustering and selection of optimal attributes. The case study shows that fuzzy c-means are able to assign new clusters with growing knowledge of customer needs and wants. The dataset has three types of entities: specification of various characteristics, assigned insurance risk rating, and normalised losses in use compared with other cars. The fuzzy c-means tool offers a number of features suitable for smart designs for an i4 environment
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