Daniel Schilberg

Self-optimising Production Systems

One of the central success factors for production in high-wage countries is the solution of the conflict that can be described with the term “planning efficiency”. Planning efficiency describes the relationship between the expenditure of planning and the profit generated by these expenditures. From the viewpoint of a successful business management, the challenge is to dynamically find the optimum between detailed planning and the immediate arrangement of the value stream. Planning-oriented approaches try to model the production system with as many of its characteristics and parameters as possible in order to avoid uncertainties and to allow rational decisions based on these models. The success of a planning-oriented approach depends on the transparency of business and production processes and on the quality of the applied models. Even though planning-oriented approaches are supported by a multitude of systems in industrial practice, an effective realisation is very intricate, so these models with their inherent structures tend to be matched to a current stationary condition of an enterprise. Every change within this enterprise, whether inherently structural or driven by altered input parameters, thus requires continuous updating and adjustment. This process is very cost-intensive and time-consuming; a direct transfer onto other enterprises or even other processes within the same enterprise is often impossible. This is also a result of the fact that planning usually occurs a priori and not in real-time. Therefore it is hard for completely planning-oriented systems to react to spontaneous deviations because the knowledge about those naturally only comes a posteriori.

Using off-the-Shelf Medical Devices for Biomedical Signal Monitoring in a Telemedicine System for Emergency Medical Services

In order to study new methods of telemedicine usage in the context of emergency medical services, researchers need to prototype integrated telemedicine systems. To conduct a one-year trial phase-intended to study a new application of telemedicine in German emergency medical services-we used off-the-shelf medical devices and software to realize real-time patient monitoring within an integrated telemedicine system prototype. We demonstrate its feasibility by presenting the integrated real-time patient monitoring solution, by studying signal delay and transmission robustness regarding changing communication channel characteristics, and by evaluating issues reported by the physicians during the trial phase. Where standards like HL7 and the IEEE 11073 family are intended to enable interoperability of product grade medical devices, we show that research prototypes benefit from the use of web technologies and simple device interfaces, as they simplify product development for a manufacturer and ease integration efforts for research teams. Embracing this approach for the development of new medical devices eases the constraint to use off-the-shelf products for research trials investigating innovative use of telemedicine.

Virtual production intelligence: a contribution to the digital factory

The usage of simulation applications for the planning and the designing of processes in many fields of production technology facilitated the formation of large data pools. With the help of these data pools, the simulated processes can be analyzed with regard to different objective criteria. The considered use cases have their origin in questions arising in various fields of production technology, e.g. manufacturing procedures to the logistics of production plants. The deployed simulation applications commonly focus on the object of investigation. However, simulating and analyzing a process necessitates the usage of various applications, which requires the interchange of data between these applications. The problem of data interchange can be solved by using either a uniform data format or an integration system. Both of these approaches have in common that they store the data, which are interchanged between the deployed applications. The datas storage is necessary with regard to their analysis, which, in turn, is required to obtain an added value of the interchange of data between various applications that is e.g. the determining of optimization potentials. The examination of material flows within a production plant might serve as an example of analyzing gathered data from an appropriate simulated process to determine, for instance, bottle necks in these material flows. The efforts undertaken to support such analysis tools for simulated processes within the field of production engineering are still at the initial stage. A new and contrasting way of implementing the analyses aforementioned consists in focusing on concepts and methods belonging to the subject area of Business Intelligence, which address the gathering of information taken from company processes in order to gain knowledge about these. This paper focusses on the approach mentioned above. With the help of a concrete use case taken from the field of factory planning, requirements on a data-based support for the analysis of the considered planning process are formulated. In a further step, a design for the realization of these requirements is presented. Furthermore, expected challenges are pointed out and discussed.

Application Integration of Simulation Tools Considering Domain Specific Knowledge

Because of the increasing complexity of modern production processes, it is necessary to plan these processes virtually before realizing them in a real environment. On the one hand there are specialized simulation tools simulating a specific production technique with exactness close to the real object of the simulation. On the other hand there are simulations which simulate whole production processes, but often do not achieve prediction accuracy comparable to the specialized tools. The simulation of a production process as a whole achieving the needed accuracy is hard to realize. Incompatible file formats, different semantics used to describe the simulated objects and missing data consistency are the main causes of this integration problem. In this paper, a framework is presented that enables the interconnection of simulation tools of production engineering considering the specific knowledge of a certain domain (e.g. material processing). Therefore, an ontology-based integration approach using domain specific knowledge to identify necessary semantic transformations has been realized. The framework provides generic functionality which, if concretized for a domain, enables the system to integrate any domain specific simulation tool in the process.

Adaptive Information Integration: Bridging the Semantic Gap between Numerical Simulations

The increasing complexity and costs of modern production processes makes it necessary to plan processes virtually before they are tested and realized in real environments. Therefore, several tools facilitating the simulation of different production techniques and design domains have been developed. On the one hand there are specialized tools simulating specific production techniques with exactness close to the real object of the simulation. On the other hand there are simulations which simulate whole production processes, but in general do not achieve prediction accuracy comparable to such specialized tools. Hence, the interconnection of tools is the only way, because otherwise the achievable prediction accuracy would be insufficient. In this chapter, a framework is presented that helps to interconnect heterogeneous simulation tools, considering their incompatible file formats, different semantics of data and missing data consistency.

A Framework Enabling Data Integration for Virtual Production

Due to the increasing complexity of modern production processes, the use of tools providing their simulation is getting more and more common. The simulation of a production process in its entirety, depending on the level of detail, often requires the coupling of several, specialised simulation tools. The lack of uniform structures, syntax and semantics among the considered file formats, the special simulation context and the typical accumulation of huge data volumes, complicates the use of established enterprise application integration solutions. Thus, the need for a tailor-made framework for simulation integration purposes arises. The implementation of such a framework is requested to be easy adaptable, so that changes in virtual production circumstances causes only little efforts in the infrastructure, and at the same time taking care about domain specific purposes. This paper presents such a framework.

Next-Generation Teaching and Learning Using the Virtual Theatre

When graduates enter the working world, they have to apply their knowledge gained during their studies to new situations. Virtual Reality bears a great potential to simulate difficult situations, e. g. in dangerous environments. However, a major drawback of many Virtual Reality environments is the lack of natural navigation and free locomotion within the artificially designed world. Compared to a driving simulator, where users are sitting in a mock-up holding an actual wheel, users need to be able to move around freely if such situations are being simulated. Mixed Reality Simulators like the “Virtual Theatre” combine various technical devices. A head mounted display enables a three dimensional visualization of the simulation. The Virtual Theatre defines its unique characteristics through the omnidirectional treadmill. This omnidirectional floor consists of rollers, which are embedded centric to the middle point. Through this floor, the user is able to perform natural movements. By making use of a data glove, the user can actively take part in the events of his virtual experience based on hand movements. In the present work, an application of the Virtual Theatre is demonstrated based on a use-case, in which a plateau on “Mars” was implemented in terms of learning and exploring scenarios. The user is able to explore the Mars surface containing “Mars Rover” vehicles, orbiters and satellites. In the second major scenario, the user can maneuver a Mars rover through an obstacle course. In further development steps, the Virtual Theatre will be utilized for teaching purposes and to realize applications in terms of remote laboratories. Based on this, it is either possible to visit elusive points of interests like a nuclear power plant or to use experimental setups that are located at other universities remotely. These applications allow a holistic usage of innovative teaching approaches.

An Introduction to a Transnational Volunteer Notification System Providing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Victims Suffering a Sudden Cardiac Arrest

While it is always desirable in an emergency to get treatment as soon as possible, there are emergencies that need immediate treatment. In case of Sudden Cardiac Arrest an untreated time interval of only a few minutes usually means the victims’ death. Given the delay between an incoming emergency call and the arrival of the emergency medical services at the scene, it is necessary to find an alternative way to provide immediate first aid treatment. One approach for this is the implementation of a Volunteer Notification System – involving laypersons and medically trained volunteers into the emergency medical service, by notifying those potential helpers who can arrive at the scene fast enough to provide the urgently needed measures.

Discussions on accessibility in industrial automation systems

Importance of industrial automation systems [1], also known as technical devices, has been a growing area during the past decades. Web applications from one side and industrial automation systems from the other side have become a standard part of peoples daily life and more user groups have to deal with them. Hence they must be accessible to all users. Unfortunately, often by the development of such systems, certain user groups are being neglected. Therefore, a systematic concept is required to support the development of industrial automation systems and Web applications. In this paper, we will present the concept, which is proposed in the context of a research project funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)a. We will discuss the suited methods to effectively assess accessibility requirements.

Longitudinal and lateral control in automated highway systems: their past, present and future

Due to the increase in road transportation by 35% over the last years in Europe it is essential to find solutions to optimize highway traffic. Therefore, several projects involving automated highway systems were initiated. In these systems, the longitudinal and lateral controls enable (with the help of other components) vehicles to be coupled electronically to form a platoon. Here, just the first vehicle is driven actively and the following vehicles are controlled automatically. Several projects were initiated to develop systems for different environments (i.e. Urban, Motorway). However, the developed techniques still are limited in their application range and e.g. cannot be applied in unstructured environment (i.e. rural or dirty areas). Furthermore, they were not tested for many different heterogeneous vehicles like trucks or passenger cars. This paper presents the past and present of automated highway systems and discusses solutions for future developments, e.g. how existing technologies can be adapted for a wider application range.