This work contributes to advancing Asset Administration Shell (AAS) standardization by bridging gaps in current specifications, offering a robust foundation for future industrial applications. It addresses the current experimental specification of the AAS Event element within industrial digital twin ecosystems. The existing AAS metamodel defines Event elements, but the usage is not wide spread in practice due to the experimental status of the Event element specification. To support the transition to an accepted Event element specification, this paper analyzed the current specification and proposed a redefinition of the AAS metamodel as it does not cover every use case. In this redefinition the AAS Event element is no longer a submodel element but a standalone component within the metamodel. To overcome different types of Event elements the authors also propose a scheme to build semantic identifiers for it. To implement the newly defined AAS Event element, a concept for an extended infrastructure is developed, which is based on the Eclipse BaSyx™1Framework.

The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) is increasingly becoming a key tool for realizing the vision of autonomous and interoperable assets, such as production facilities and products, to enable flexible scheduling of production plans. The definition of the Type 3 AAS (proactive AAS) and ongoing research work suggests to alter the vision of proactive AAS to a standardized specification. This work shows an approach to combine AAS technologies with technologies and modelling approaches, currently common in the industry. This includes Workflow Management Systems and Business Process Models for achieving a proactive AAS. The approach builds on the specified Type 2 AAS (reactive AAS) and adds a newly developed submodel that is used by the Workflow Management System to transform the reactive AAS into a proactive AAS. An abstract architecture is shown which points out a general implementation approach for the aforementioned technologies. Additionally, with the new submodel, the integration of the Industry 4.0 language is presented, which enables interoperable communication for an automated production planning in the domain of wiring harness production.

Platform Industry 4.0 conceptualizes Industry 4.0 as a smart factory that is composed of smart production processes, smart entities and smart products working in tandem to achieve larger goals, namely enabling flexible manufacturing, efficient resource utilization, optimal decision making, catering to individual preferences and creation of new services Smart entities are digital representations of physical or logical objects that can communicate with the external world and take independent decisions.These digital representations can choose different application-layer protocols (ALPs) such as MQTT or HTTP or CoAP for the exchange of messages with the external world. This requires addressing the concept of Application layer interoperability. In this paper, we review the past works by different authors that propose middleware architectures for enabling the exchange of messages in such a multi-protocol environment. Next, we argue for a better alternative and propose new architecture coined as Registry Infrastructure Component (RIC). RIC is a complex software component that maintains a registry, different ALP plugins. The digital representations have to register their ALP endpoint information with the RIC initially and later can post all the outbound messages to any of the RIC ALP plugins. The RIC takes the responsibility of transporting the message to the target recipient. Apart from registration with the RIC, the digital representations would have to communicate only in the I4.0 language.

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) looks to enable intelligent production by connecting and evaluating data. The asset administration shell, the Industry 4.0 specification of a digital twin describes various concepts to realize this data exchange. One part of the asset administration shell is the I4.0-language, which intends to standardize complex interactions between machines by using interaction protocols. VoiceXML is a W3C-standard from the field of interactive voice response, which has been established for several years. In this paper we analyze to which extend a future I4.0 interaction manager could derive VoiceXML-concepts to the asset administration shell. For this purpose, parallels between VoiceXML and the I4.0-language are shown and compared by implementing a selected interaction protocol from the VDI 2193 using VoiceXML.

In this article, we consider the problem of developing a rational competitive design of a multifunctional all-terrain vehicle (MATV) with 8х8 axle configuration. Empirical dependencies are proposed to calculate weight-size parameters of these vehicles, such as power and power-to-weight ratio, payload, maximum speed, average ground pressure depending on full vehicle weight. Key dependencies are provided to calculate hydrostatic transmission (HST) parameters used to determine hydraulic unit sizes and connection diagrams. Various HST control algorithms are analyzed in order to increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. The results show that the right HST control algorithm can increase efficiency by 10%, and reduce fuel consumption by 18%. General view of the developed MATV is provided.

Industrie 4.0 (I4.0) aims at a manufacturer-independent, vertical- and horizontal-oriented communication and cooperation within smart factories. This is only manageable using international standards. The so-called reference architecture model for Industrie 4.0 (RAMI4.0) and the requirement specification of an I4.0 component are already available. RAMI4.0 could be the basis for the interoperability of the interactions. The working group “Semantic and interaction model for I4.0 components” (GMA 7.20) made progress in this direction. The language used for the interaction of I4.0 components needs model definitions for the interaction consisting of the structure of the components, syntax for the description of the messages and the means to assign the meaning to the language elements. This paper discusses the results for a broader audience.