Cyber-Physical System for Industrial Control Automation Based on the Holonic Approach and the IEC 61499 Standard

Abstract

In recent years, new control automation schemes resulted from the complex needs of the manufacturing systems. The dynamism of the current market is not covered by traditional hierarchical structures yet. Thus, innovative models facing the demands of industrial requirements are now based on intelligent entities. These modern paradigms are realized by evolved programming techniques to implement flexible and distributed control systems (non-hierarchical), e.g. a Cyber-Physical System (CPS). CPS is described as an innovative model that involves transdisciplinary engineering. In fact, CPS defines a modern term that integrates additional information (e.g. real-time data) and modern communication technology (ICT) into the physical world. CPS is often associated with the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) perspective and its specific implementation could be defined by holons, a software built by autonomous and intelligent entities. A holon present in a CPS may contain a physical resource that is linked to the software system by distributable and suitable communication protocols (e.g. based on the IEC 61499 standard). The results of this paper show that both paradigms-holonic and CPS-are a complementary way for manufacturing control automation. The goal of this research is sustained by an overview of UML models, and the application of industrial Ethernet-based protocol (Profinet), to satisfy a distributed CPS with real-time characteristics.