J.L. Martinez Lastra

Semantics-Based Composition of Factory Automation Processes Encapsulated by Web Services

This paper presents an approach to using semantic web services in managing production processes. In particular, the devices in the production systems considered expose web service interfaces through which they can then be controlled, while semantic web service descriptions formulated in web ontology language for services (OWL-S) make it possible to determine the conditions and effects of invoking the web services. The approach involves three web services that cooperate to achieve production goals using the domain web services. In particular, one of the three services maintains a semantic model of the current state of the system, while another uses the model to compose the domain web services so that they jointly achieve the desired goals. The semantic model of the system is automatically updated based on event notifications sent by the domain services.

An application of BPEL for service orchestration in an industrial environment

Traditionally, the application of services can be attributed to so-called office automation. While opening new horizons in software development life cycle, web services have gained increased attention in other domains as well, including the domain of factory automation (software development for factory automation). Coming from pure software to the physical realm involving industrial equipment, the application of web services sets some additional demands for these domains where no simple roll-back or application recovery procedures can easily be implemented due to operations on the states in the physical world. This paper discusses orchestration of web services with BPEL and a set of software tools for developing BPEL processes considered for a simple case study. The example is taken from the domain of factory automation in order to highlight some of the main issues arising during the process of service orchestration.

Energy efficiency improvement through context sensitive self-learning of machine availability

In this paper, we present a generic solution for context based self-adaptation of production systems. We describe the overall architecture of the proposed system, as well as its components. Furthermore, we illustrate how this architecture is being used to extract the production context of machine tools and improve their energy efficiency.

Open automation of manufacturing systems through integration of ontology and web services

Abstract The paper illustrates an innovative solution for the control architecture of automated manufacturing systems, based on the integration of the ontology and web-services technologies, which allows an easy configuration, update and expansion of the control system. The result is a fully open environment for the operational control of manufacturing equipment allowing the easy and fast commissioning of new plants, the achievement of a “plug & produce” inclusion of new equipment and the substitution of the traditional control model, based on the hierarchical hardware architecture, with a new one based on a free series of pure software control levels which manage, via a web services communication network, a single-level population of controllers of the various equipment on the shop floor.

Quality of service for CAMX middleware

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) using extensible markup language (XML) (CAMX) standards are enabling the vision of the plug & play factory for the electronics production industry. One of the implementation challenges of CAMX-message-oriented middleware for device and system communication is that of providing quality of service at the message layer. This paper analyses processes and traffic models in CAMX production environments and proposes an abstract model for quality of service. An effective implementation of this infrastructure is analysed through simulation in order to validate the proposed approach to quality of service. An approach to map quality of service at the CAMX layer to the network and data-link layers is also presented.

An ontology-based semantic foundation for flexible manufacturing systems

The aim of this manuscript is to present an ontology-based knowledge representation for flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), providing a comprehensive semantic foundation of the facility. Domain ontology model is addressed that captures and formally represents the manufacturing semantics from heterogeneous data sources allowing knowledge sharing, re-use and update. Reported semantic foundation enables the plant operations to become knowledge intensive, distributed and collaborative in nature. It enables knowledge management among various design tools and knowledge exchange in an adaptive operation environment through decision support applications. A framework for such a knowledge-based optimization support system is also proposed. A practical FMS use case is considered as an illustrative example in this work.

A Real-Time Interface for Agent-Based Control

This work lays in the domain of distributed control systems for reconfigurable manufacturing systems. It describes an interface for the interaction between two layers within an embedded controller with networked capabilities, the levels included in the model are the high level control (HLC) and the low level control (LLC). The HLC is the named coordination control, and the LLC is well known as logic control. The software applications running in the LLC are algorithms encapsulated in function blocks, and the units within the HLC are software agents.

Service oriented computing to Self-Learning production system

The aim of this manuscript is to present what is Self-Learning production system and how service oriented architecture (SOA) and supporting technologies are bridged together to implement this new concept in the ongoing EU Self-Learning production system project. A brief review of the most recent EU projects that have reported results relevant to the main discussed investigation problems is presented. Reference architecture and functionalities of Self-Learning production system is introduced aiming for improved control and maintenance in production plants. Service oriented computing to Self-Learning production system is proposed to meet the required level of flexibility, interoperability and communications needs for reusable Self-Learning services. A roadmap for future research is defined.

Automation 2.0: Current trends in factory automation

Current technological advances under the umbrella of the Web 2.0 have enabled an unprecedented level of interoperability and information exchange at the factory floor. These advances are leading to a redesign in the way factory automation systems and developed and built. This paper reviews current trends in the domain of factory automation that are leading to a new automation paradigm, identified as Automation 2.0.

An evolutionary algorithm for optimization of XML publish/subscribe middleware in electronics production

Computer aided manufacturing using XML (CAMX) production systems are built on Message-Oriented Middleware Frameworks, offering standards-based communication among machines and control software applications. CAMX Frameworks implement Publish/Subscribe of XML messages through an entity called the Message Broker (MSB). In order to create scalable frameworks, distributed MSB systems need to be deployed. In the distributed case, the topology optimization problem arises, as clients need to be assigned to one of several available MSB nodes. The problem is a variation of the graph partitioning problem, known to be NP-complete. The problem is augmented with weighted directed edges, multiple levels of cluster capacity, complex weight functions, and multiple optimization criteria. A solution was developed based on an evolutionary multi-objective algorithm. The developed algorithm was tested for optimizing two flexible electronics assembly systems used as case scenarios. Robust convergence time was bounded to a few seconds, demonstrating the suitability of the proposed algorithm for rapid topology reconfiguration in response to changes in the system