Integration requirements of package units — A description approach with FDI

Package units are used to supply production plants with components and auxiliary materials or to assemble final products. They usually come with an automation system that has predefined functions and behavior. The integration of package units in a SCADA or DCS involves considerable manual effort. Various aspects of automation - such as faceplates, states of sequencers, or interlocks - are reproduced manually in the control system for the visualization and management of the package unit. We present potentials and limitations of current and prospective technologies (for example, FDI technology [4]) for the simplified integration of package units in a process control system. This paper also proposes and discusses a concept for simplified integration of package units in control systems.