Modeling techniques as applied to generating tool-independent automation projects

An architecture for metamorphic control of holonic manufacturing systems

Real time control of holonic manufacturing systems requires a radically different approach from that of traditional unit level regulatory control. Because they need to automatically adapt and reconfigure based on the ever changing requirements of the manufacturing system, control systems based on this approach are termed metamorphic control systems. The engineering of such software centric metamorphic control systems for dynamically reconfigurable distributed multi sensor based holonic systems is addressed. An integrated and uniform event driven control architecture is specified for various functional levels of metamorphic control system. This architecture utilizes the emerging International Electrotechnical Commission function block standard (IEC 1499) for industrial process measurement and control systems to specify the requisite behavior of distributed control software components (agents).

Industrial Process Measurement and Control Systems (IPMCS) are used in most of the industrial sectors to achieve production improvement, process optimization and time and cost reduction. Integration, reuse, flexibility and optimization are demanded to adapt to a rapidly changing and competitive market. There is also a growing requirement that all software tools that support the different phases of the development process can be integrated as well. Thus, a consolidation of modeling methodologies for achieving this goal is needed. In this paper, a component-based model of the implementation (hardware and software) is proposed. In particular, the software architecture is defined to follow the software model of the IEC 61131-3 standard. The work presented here is related to how to create PLC automation projects from the application model. The different steps needed depend on the PLC programming tool. The paper analyses the different cases and the use of XML technologies to generate the automation projects for all the PLCs defined in the hardware architecture.

IEC61499 Service Interface Function Blocks to Access Decentralized Peripherals with Profibus DP

Industrial Process Measurement and Control Systems are used in most of the industrial sectors to achieve production improvement, process optimization and time and cost reduction. Integration, reuse, flexibility and optimization are demanded to adapt to a rapidly changing and competitive market. In fact, standardization is a key goal to achieve these goals. The international standardization efforts have lead to the definition of the IEC 61131 standard. Part 3 of this standard defines a software model for defining automation projects as well as 5 programming languages. Nowadays, a major part of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) vendors follows this standard, although each programming tool adds particularities and stores the automation project in different manner. But, although they may use the same software model and the same programming languages, source code reuse is not available. This work presents an infrastructure that allows transferring source code from one PLC programming tool to any other transparently to the users. The proposal consists of a textual expression of the software model and the programming languages, as well as the mechanisms, based on XML technologies, to achieve tool interoperability.

In the area of industrial process control and measurement systems (IPCMS), many applications are real-time and are specified in terms of function blocks-functional units with specific monitoring, measurement or control tasks. In order to guarantee that the application's requirements and time constraints are met, it is necessary to identify a suitable mapping between the function blocks and the physical devices. This paper proposes an allocation policy for function blocks in a real-time IPCMS which will not only guarantee that time constraints are met, but will also tend to minimize the response time of the applications being executed.

The implementation of automated regulatory control has been around since the middle of the last century through analog means. It has allowed engineers to operate the plant more consistently by focusing on overall operations and settings instead of individual monitoring of local instruments (inside and outside of a control room). A similar approach is proposed for cyber security, where current border-protection designs have been inherited from information technology developments that lack consideration of the high-reliability, high consequence nature of industrial control systems. Instead of an independent development, however, an integrated approach is taken to develop a holistic understanding of performance. This performance takes shape inside a multiagent design, which provides a notional context to model highly decentralized and complex industrial process control systems, the nervous system of critical infrastructure. The resulting strategy will provide a framework for researching solutions to security and unrecognized interdependency concerns with industrial control systems.

8 - Real-time fault-tolerant control systems

This paper addresses a new approach for modeling of versatile controllers in industrial automation and process control systems such as pneumatic controllers. Some fractional order dynamical models are developed for pressure and pneumatic systems with bellows-nozzle-flapper configuration. In the light of fractional calculus, a fractional order derivative-derivative (FrDD) controller and integral-derivative (FrID) are remodeled. Numerical simulations illustrate the application of the obtained theoretical results in simple examples.

Wireless sensor networks have been a very active research field in the past few years. However, most of extant research has focused on wireless sensing, such as environmental and habitat monitoring [6]. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of applying wireless technologies in industrial real-time process control systems. We define a minimum set of assumptions about the underlying sensor networks in order to achieve realtime support for process control. These assumptions are necessary and practical from an industrial perspective. We formulate the modeling of a wireless process control configuration as a multi-processor scheduling problem. The resulting scheduling problem is solved by the scheduler synthesis tool MSP.RTL [7] to produce a valid configuration for deployment. The deployment, because of the way it is derived, will provide real-time wireless support for the controlled processes. Simulation results on data from real plant configurations show that this approach can also drastically reduce potential interferences between wireless transfers.

Automatic control has become one of the standard engineering fields and is inherently part of electrical engineering. Industrial controllers in any form are only a part of the hardware necessary for the control of industrial processes in, e.g., the process industry or manufacturing. The design of an industrial control system is greatly facilitated by an auto-tuning system, if it is available as part of the controller. Since the majority of control hardware for industry is of the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) type, most of the patents relating to auto-tuning are also about this type of control, though other patented methods and systems for control are available. In this paper, a survey of patents for autotuning methods and systems for industrial control is given. The patents are grouped into methods and systems based on model-based tuning with non-parametric and parametric models, relay tuning, multiple controllers for nonlinear processes, and other approaches. More stress is put on recent patents, but a wider survey of auto-tuning patents published in the past two decades is also given in the paper. The methods being patented are becoming more sophisticated and more universal and consequently they provide better assistance to the work of control-design engineers. Keywords: Auto-tuning system, industrial controllers, process control, PID control, controller tuning

Digital photogrammetric systems have been introduced to solve various measurement problems in industrial applications for many years, ever since high resolution CCD cameras and powerful computer technologies have been available. For a successful implementation of a digital photogrammetric system into the production line, not only does the actual measurement task have to be solved but also a complete integration of the system into the production process usually has to be supplied by the system manufacturer. Three examples of successful implementations of photogrammetric systems for industrial automation and process control are presented in this paper.

After investigating the conception and features of PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) and embedded system, in this paper the conception of a Quasi-PLC is proposed, which combine the advantages of PLC and embedded system. The architecture of Quasi-PLC and a Top-Down design method with collaboration design of software and hardware for Quasi-PLC embedded control system are researched then. Finally, setting the large-scale industrial valve control system as an example, the conception of Quasi-PLC and related technologies are used in industrial valve control system, and a satisfied application effect is obtained, which proves the rationality of the conception of Quasi-PLC and related technologies.

This book presents a synthesis of recent works concerning reactive system design. The term `reactive system' has been introduced in order to avoid ambiguities often involved with the term `real-time system' which, while being best-known and suggestive, has been assigned so many different meanings that it is almost inevitably misunderstood. Industrial Process control system, transportation control and supervision systems, signal processing systems, etc. are examples of the systems we have in mind. Four programming languages are presented, which share the same underlying synchronous model: based on Robin Milner's pioneering works about synchronous process algebras, this model consists in considering that a program instantaneously reacts to events, or that the machine execution time is negligible with respect to the response delays of its environment. Using this abstract point of view, the time behavior of a system can be formalized in a very simple and elegant way. The languages presented are ESTEREL, a textual imperative language; ARGOS, a graphical language inspired by STATECHARTS; and LUSTRE and SIGNAL, two declarative languages. After a tutorial description of the languages, illustrated by various examples, a set of related tools is presented: compilers to sequential and distributed code, silicon compilers, verification tools.

Real-Time Expert Intelligent Control System REICS