Timeseries on IIoT Platforms: Requirements and Survey for Digital Twins in Process Industry

In the pursue for sustainability in process industry, digital twins necessitate the communication and storage of timeseries data about Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Regarding timeseries, this paper first presents a set of requirements specific to process industries. Then, it surveys how existing IIoT technologies meet the requirements. The technologies include the API specifications Asset Administration Shell (AAS), Digital Twin Definition Language (DTDL), NGSI-LD and Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) as well as six commercial platforms. All the technologies leave significant gaps regarding the requirements, which means that tailor-made extensions are necessary.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Palvelukeskeiset liiketoimintaprosessit käynnissäpidon toimintojen mallintamisessa

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a paradigm for modeling the interaction of different parties in a distributed system. In SOA, a high abstraction level leads to platform-independent interoperability. Moreover, different parties are only loosely coupled to each other. As a result of these, SOA is a scalable and flexible architecture. As industrial automation systems are typically inflexible and expensive to install or to modify, it would be beneficial to have all devices interact in the SOA manner. However, current technologies to implement a SOA are problematic from the devices point of view. The technologies require a lot of computational resources, and they also lack support for hard real-time functions. Work has been done to overcome these challenges, but especially hard real-time capable SOA cannot currently be implemented. Despite their limitations, current SOA technologies can be used for several functions of industrial plants. In this study, service-oriented solutions are created for the estimation of environmental footprints and for condition monitoring. The solutions are modeled as diagrams using a standard graphical notation after which the diagrams are converted to an executable language. Both implementations show the efficiency of the selected modeling method. The principles of SOA enable the reuse of different resources flexibly in different applications which saves work. A standard structured data format was used in both solutions, and it facilitates integration. As there is a built-in support for the format in modern applications, a solution designer can concentrate on data contents on a high level. Compatibility problems were also encountered, but they were overcome using wrapper services. There were also other integration problems with the technologies used. Despite the problems, graphical modeling saves time compared to textual methods to model communication. It was also recognized that careful design is required in distributed systems to avoid performance problems. /Kir1

Digitalized Cross-organizational Interoperability in Industrial Business Ecosystems: Implications and Models for Process Industry

Interoperability between industrial organizations is a persistent challenge, particularly as the goal is to enable digitalized communications between information and communications technology (ICT) systems operated by different parties. This paper studies how the current interoperability tools and models support the foundations of digitalized business-to-business communication. While the focus area is plant lifecycle information in process industry, covering investment projects as well as operations and maintenance (O&M), the problems can be generalized to all manufacturing. The results of this study suggest that the current interoperability models and standards offer little support for building cross-organizational interoperability with digitalized tools. Thus, there should be consortia that span the enterprises in process industry, aiming to develop the architecture of collaborative business networks that fulfil sustainable interoperability and the related governance. To accomplish this goal, this paper shows what elements exist and what are lacking, mapping these to European Interoperability Framework (EIF).publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Data Autonomy in Message Brokers in Edge and Cloud for Mobile Machinery: Requirements and Technology Survey

The future data-driven manufacturing ecosystems build upon data spaces where each participant controls how its own data are utilized. This goal is equally important in machinery where the networks comprise machine fleets and the data use cases range from local edge to various cloud systems and digital business integrations. These systems of systems require efficient, scalable data streaming with decoupled (e.g., publish-subscribe) platforms that enable the flexible connection of data producers and consumers in heterogeneous networks. This paper describes a work in progress about data autonomy, sovereignty, and trust in message brokers in machinery, aiming to contribute to initiatives, such as Gaia-X and International Data Spaces (IDS). First, the paper identifies requirements for platforms and communication that span edge and cloud. Second, it presents a technology survey about data autonomy in open, Internet-cabable brokers. These include Advanced Message Queueing Protocol (AMQP), MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT), Apache Kafka and Apache Pulsar. It appears that there is little research about data autonomy in brokers and MQTT has the strongest base. The work continues to develop data autonomy into a message broker.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Interoperability of OPC UA PubSub with Existing Message Broker Integration Architectures

Interoperable communication technologies are of key importance in production systems with increasing needs for data in their adoption of data-driven methodologies and new, emerging applications. OPC UA PubSub defines an alternative to the traditional client-server communication with a publish-subscribe model for data to cater to scalability and data-driven cloud application needs. In this paper, the OPC UA PubSub model is compared to some other message broker and communication technologies and integrated with an existing message based integration model for evaluating the interoperability. A case example is presented where data payloads and information security practices are integrated using an adapter approach.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Plant-wide interoperability and decoupled, data-driven process control with message bus communication

Conventional industrial communication systems suffer from rigidness, inflexibility and lack of scalability. The environment is heterogeneous as the systems exchange data with a variety communication protocols, some of which are proprietary. This makes it laborious and expensive to reconfigure or upgrade the systems. As the solution, this article proposes a message-bus-based communication architecture to enable information exchange between systems regardless of their geographical location and position within the functional hierarchy of the plant. The architecture not only enables communication to cross the conventional physical borders but also provides scalability to growing data volumes and network sizes. As proofs of concept, the article presents a prototype in three environments: a copper smelter, a steel plant and a distillation column. The results suggest that the message-bus-based approach has potential to renew industrial communications, a core part of the fourth industrial revolution.H2020, 723661, COCO

SimCES platform for modular simulation : Featuring platform independence, container ecosystem, and development toolkit

Modular co-simulation contributes to both engineering and research, but the earlier solutions have lacked the combination of platform independence, loose coupling between the modules, and tools for straightforward development. This paper describes the simulation platform SimCES (Simulation Environment of Complex Energy System) that solves these issues with a microservice architecture, combining message-broker-based communication, containerization, and a development toolkit. The components can even communicate over Internet. Furthermore, there are developer tools that enable an easy start for developers with Python and Docker, but any external platform is possible too. SimCES is domain agnostic but stems from the energy domain.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

A comparative study on multi-agent and service-oriented microgrid automation systems from energy internet perspective

The current advancements of energy, information, communication, and automation technologies and their integration have provided ways for the energy industry to transform into cleaner energy systems. This transition has contributed to the concept called energy internet. The recent energy technologies provide clean energy generation, storage and demand response through distributed energy resources. Information, communication, and automation technologies aim to provide supporting software tools and enabling mechanisms to automate the operation and control of those resources in a coordinated way. Thus, researchers and the software industry are developing software frameworks and platforms to support energy system automation. Commonly, most of the frameworks follow the design principles of either multi-agent systems (MAS) or service-oriented architecture (SOA). However, there are many frameworks and no straightforward criteria to select which one to implement in energy systems’ automation applications to fulfill the energy internet vision. This study provides a conceptual investigation of MAS- and SOA-based software solutions by designing a use case for microgrid application automation considering its expansion for enabling energy internet. Two software frameworks, RIAPS and Arrowhead, have been selected as the candidates of MAS and SOA from the literature study. This study shows that neither MAS or SOA approach alone might not meet the requirements of microgrid automation and energy internet. Consequently, a combined approach of MAS and SOA is proposed.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Palvelukeskeiset liiketoimintaprosessit käynnissäpidon toimintojen mallintamisessa

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a paradigm for modeling the interaction of different parties in a distributed system. In SOA, a high abstraction level leads to platform-independent interoperability. Moreover, different parties are only loosely coupled to each other. As a result of these, SOA is a scalable and flexible architecture. As industrial automation systems are typically inflexible and expensive to install or to modify, it would be beneficial to have all devices interact in the SOA manner. However, current technologies to implement a SOA are problematic from the devices point of view. The technologies require a lot of computational resources, and they also lack support for hard real-time functions. Work has been done to overcome these challenges, but especially hard real-time capable SOA cannot currently be implemented. Despite their limitations, current SOA technologies can be used for several functions of industrial plants. In this study, service-oriented solutions are created for the estimation of environmental footprints and for condition monitoring. The solutions are modeled as diagrams using a standard graphical notation after which the diagrams are converted to an executable language. Both implementations show the efficiency of the selected modeling method. The principles of SOA enable the reuse of different resources flexibly in different applications which saves work. A standard structured data format was used in both solutions, and it facilitates integration. As there is a built-in support for the format in modern applications, a solution designer can concentrate on data contents on a high level. Compatibility problems were also encountered, but they were overcome using wrapper services. There were also other integration problems with the technologies used. Despite the problems, graphical modeling saves time compared to textual methods to model communication. It was also recognized that careful design is required in distributed systems to avoid performance problems. /Kir1

Distributed Industrial System Architectures : Exploiting Information and Knowledge to Increase Efficiency

In industrial production, there are various environments where the potential efficiency is not reached. In process industry, the production processes include complexity and dynamics, which makes it difficult to the employees to operate them efficiently. Similar issues exist in mobile machinery. Especially inexperienced machine operators work in an inefficient manner, because it takes time to learn to control the machines. In addition, inefficiency occurs even in industrial business processes where information is exchanged. Related to process equipment, this exchange – especially between enterprises – lacks proper tools, which necessitates laborious and error-prone manual communication methods. Fortunately, information systems (ISs) can increase efficiency in all of these environments. To increase efficiency, an approach is to design ISs that manage and utilise related knowledge in a computer-interpretable format. This thesis researches such systems in three environments. First, in the operation of machinery, the studied systems cover two purposes: performance-related feedback for operators and the adjustment of machine parameters. Both require knowledge management that is based on actual performance data. The second environment is industrial processes that receive benefit from operator assistance systems. Assistance eases demanding control tasks and especially plant-wide coordination. The third environment is industrial business collaboration, which lacks a digitalised medium for the exchange of technical information. Such a medium would apply knowledge about ecosystem-wide business practices. Although each of the three environments faces additional issues from distribution and asynchronism, the challenges are manageable with appropriately designed ISs. As ISs are applied to improve efficiency, it is necessary to integrate heterogeneous information sources, which introduces challenges. Even if the information were in a computer-interpretable format, heterogeneity hampers communication. Heterogeneity occurs in various scopes, two of which are considered in this thesis. First, in production plants, ISs utilise heterogeneous, vendor-specific information formats. Common formats should be utilised instead to make systems integration more affordable to implement and maintain. Second, heterogeneity is even more remarkable in communication between enterprises. Enterprises have different practices, which reflects to their systems. Efficient collaboration necessitates the alignment of these differences, which is – fortunately – reachable with appropriate systems. Considering efficiency, this work provides multiple results. The approach is to design suitable architectures for ISs. Regarding ISs, an architecture refers to the high-level structure and common principles that guide more detailed design tasks. An architecture is presented in each publication of this thesis. The publications are related to mobile machinery, production plants and the exchange of industrial technical information between enterprises. Concerning architectures, the publications provide multiple design challenges due to distribution, asynchronism and heterogeneity. In addition to architectures, this thesis introduces a conceptual model that covers the application of knowledge and the related information management tasks in industrial production. The suggested architectural solutions, as well as the conceptual model, are reusable in industrial production. Still, the results indicate that each problem requires careful design to conform to its specific requirements