The developer community has made significant efforts to enable fast and resilient implementations of industrial applications centred around the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). Software Developer Kits (SDKs) help industry and academia to streamline the development process and reduce errors when working with the AAS metamodel or serving the AAS API. In this work, we analyze established SDKs and other supporting tools that facilitate the development of AAS SDKs and applications. We introduce four workflows with varying degrees of automation that leverage these tools, discussing both current and anticipated challenges related to code generation, along with effective mitigation strategies. These workflows are qualitatively compared regarding their implementation and management effort, required skills, correctness, as well as future-proof maintainability. Based on six study cases of real-world AAS implementations, we ascertain the extent to which these workflows are already being applied in practice.

This paper presents a novel approach for the semantic comparison of Asset Administration Shells (AAS), i.e., digital twins within the context of Industry 4.0. As digital twins gain importance in optimizing industrial processes, ensuring interoperability and accurate versioning of AAS becomes critical. We propose a method that focuses on object model-level comparisons rather than mere syntactic differences, enabling a more meaningful assessment of semantic equivalence. Our findings highlight the challenges associated with traditional comparison methods and suggest a comprehensive framework for enhancing AAS versioning and integrity verification.

Legacy assembly diagrams, often provided as machine-unreadable images, hinder integration into the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) ecosystem. We propose a multi-step pipeline leveraging Large Language Models as a single simple-to-operate tool to recognize parts, relationships, and global identifiers, segment parts in images, and structure the data into Asset Administration Shell as I4.0 digital twins. Targeted prompts are designed for each step and evaluated on 15 diverse real-world diagrams. Results show that while the LLM reliably recognizes parts and link identifiers, there are still some open challenges with relationship extraction and semantic segmentation. Despite these limitations, LLMs provide a viable tool for semi-automated digitalization. Our end-to-end pipeline thus enables seamless integration of legacy diagrams into I4.0 systems.

This paper explores the integration of Smart Resource Flow (SRF) wireless platform with the EmKoI4.0 Orchestrator to enhance industrial network management in Industry 4.0 environments. We examine how the EmKoI Orchestrator, which utilizes Asset Administration Shell for dynamic reconfiguration of 5G Non-Public Networks, can function as an SRF Service Manager to optimize wireless resource allocation. The integration leverages the Central Coordination Point framework specified in IEC 62657-4 for industrial wireless coexistence management. Our approach establishes a multi-layered coordination mechanism where the SRF Field Manager handles localized resource allocation while the EmKoI4.0 Orchestrator provides high-level network adaptation based on application requirements, regulatory constraints, and environmental factors. The paper presents the theoretical framework for this integration and outlines an evaluation plan to assess performance improvements in practical industrial scenarios.

In the context of Industry 4.0, the automatic code and test generation from state diagrams embedded in specifications is a critical challenge for software correctness. In this paper we present an approach that leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) for the recognition of state diagrams to generate code and unit tests automatically. We compare the performance of LLMs with traditional computer vision models, highlighting the advantages of LLMs in terms of generalization and simplicity of setup. The results on two prominent industrial communication protocols, PROFINET and OPC UA, demonstrate the applicability of the approach, achieving significant reductions in manual effort and improving the accuracy of code and test generation.

The vision of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) promises unprecedented interconnectedness of vendors, manufacturers and other partners in the value chain. A key enabler in this new landscape of communicating factories is the digital twin, a virtual replica of every asset that mirrors all its facets and properties along the whole life cycle. The ambition of including existing factories with legacy devices into this ecosystem is not without significant challenges. These older devices are equipped with purpose-built hardware and inflexibly bound to certain communication protocols that do not integrate with I4.0 interaction methods. In order to bridge this gap, an adapter is required that mediates between the highly optimized industrial protocols and modern, vastly linked I4.0 devices. This work presents a gateway, called the Multi-Message Broker (MMB), which can connect to legacy devices via a suite of appropriate interfaces and simultaneously offer I4.0-compliant APIs for these connected assets. This creates a digital twin for legacy devices and makes them accessible to I4.0 information exchange. The aim is to integrate plants and systems with the lowest possible effort. As existing device descriptions and information models can form a basis for the digital twin, this and their applicability for the MMB will also be discussed. A prototype that implements selected aspects of the concept will demonstrate the functionality and advantages of such a system.

As Industrie 4.0 (I4.0) technologies continue to advance, ensuring the reliability and robustness of emerging standards like Asset Administration Shells (AAS) becomes paramount. This paper introduces a comprehensive testing approach for reactive (a.k.a. Type 2) AAS implementations, addressing the challenges posed by their intricate and dynamic nature. Our methodology adopts a design-by-contract approach to formalize API behavior. We design the client as a test oracle, where code contracts extensively validate the AAS operations, their interactions and effects. The related test cases cover various operation chains, including superpaths, service specifications, and serialization modifiers. The objective of this approach is to enhance the reliability and effectiveness of testing in the evolving landscape of AAS Type 2 implementations.

In the dawn of Industry 4.0, a new era of unprecedented efficiency beckons, powered by the intricate web of interconnected machines, manufacturing sites, vendors, and consumers. The linchpin of this transformative journey is the Digital Twin, embodied in the Asset Administration Shell. By meticulously mirroring every facet of the real-world asset, the AAS offers a standardized portal for real-time data acquisition and proactive asset management. We present a Servicer Oriented Architecture for implementing Industry 4.0 Digital Twins using the Asset Administration Shell. We propose partitioning the AAS into a microservice network and formalise service definitions using gRPC and Protobuf. Our architecture allows for transparent service relocation near the asset, leveraging efficient gRPC communication. Additionally, We demonstrate that code generation tools streamline boilerplate generation and simplify the architecture update process.

The increasing demand for low-latency and high-reliability communication in industrial settings creates a need for efficient traffic management. To address this challenge, the integration of 5G and Time Sensitive Networking has become increasingly prevalent. These next-generation technologies hold significant promise for revolutionizing industrial communication networks, especially to support critical traffic from operational technology. However, this combination also poses complexity issues due to the multitude of configuration possibilities. Our proposed approach leverages Industry 4.0 Asset Administration Shell to establish a mapping between the network capabilities space and the application requirements space. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel methodology for requirement-capability matching, which enables dynamical network reconfiguration in industrial settings.

Loosely coupled systems are benefited from higher changeability. They are less rigid and more flexible because they are loose but still connected as they are coupled. On the other hand, they could behave unpredictably in the course of sudden change. While many studies and industrial practices are trying to make PLC-based control and automation software more loosely coupled, this paper aims to bring the attention of subject matter experts to the fact that making PLCbased control and automation software too loosely coupled could demolish the main characteristic of these systems, which relies on their predictability and reliability.

Although generally speaking, modularisation is not a new topic in the software industry, industrial control and automation software systems based on industrial computers recently received greater attention from academia and industry due to the impact of modularisation on managing software complexities, particularly changeability. While there is a direct correlation between coupling and modularisation and their impact on software changeability and reusability, not all modularisation techniques could bring higher changeability unless it is performed in the direction of changeability. How to modularise in the direction of changeability is the core topic of this paper.

The realization of Industrie 4.0 potential depends on the utilization of digital twins, commonly implemented as Asset Administration Shells. AAS provides a strong framework for describing assets and their functionalities, and is expected to become a key component of digital twin for embedded systems. In the fields of Industrial Cyber Physical Systems and Industrial Internet Of Things, AAS serves as a bridge between microcontroller and high-performance systems.Current Software Development Kits for AAS focus rather on cloud and PC applications. Building on top of transpilation-based approaches, we explore novel ways how to adapt the SDKs for AAS in order to bring them to industrial embedded systems. Our method is designed to streamline the development process in particular for micro-controller and Industrial Control Systems contexts.

Digital twins, the virtual representations of physical assets, processes or systems, are becoming increasingly important in cyber-physical systems. They are a foundational block of Industry 4.0, the movement to digitalize industrial processes.The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) has been established as the preferable model to capture interoperable digital twins in the context of Industry 4.0. As asset administration shells become more prevalent, so does the need for specialized software development kits (SDKs) to manage them.The intertwined Industry 4.0 value chains are highly dependent on interoperability. The SDKs for AAS are often the direct interface between the components, and the malfunctioning of the SDKs leads to the breakage of the value chain. It is therefore important that we have the tools to determine how individual SDKs behave, and detect when they malfunction. In this work, we implement an approach to assessing the maturity of the SDKs for managing asset administration shells, and perform a thorough survey and evaluation of the existing SDKs.

Industry 4.0 developers need high-quality libraries in their preferred programming languages to efficiently and ergonomically create, edit and exchange digital twins as Asset Administration Shell (AAS). Existing specifications of the AAS can not be directly translated into programming code. This leads to many, often manual, re-implementations of the AAS in different projects and programming languages. We present an approach for automatic generation of software libraries based on the formalized AAS meta-model. This shows that the development with our approach is 5× faster for a new language and 10× faster for a new version of the AAS meta-model, respectively.

In Industry 4.0, the digital twin is represented as an Asset Administration Shell. The Asset Administration Shell meta-model is used to develop this digital twin. A developer needs ready-made exchange formats and data schemas to be able to work efficiently with libraries in his programming languages. The existing representations of the metamodel in XML, JSON and RDF, in their current form, have been created manually by individual working group members. This process is error-prone and inconsistent in the enforcement of serialization rules, leading to many manual re-implementations of the Asset Administration Shell in each representation. We present an approach to automatically generate the different data schemas for information exchange between partners in the Industry 4.0 value chain, based on the intermediate representation of the formalized meta-model. The approach enables a practical and simple development process of and is scalable across different exchange formats and their future changes.

The history of the software industry has shown and proved that coupling and cohesion are a never-ending story in this industry. Quantifying the quality of software systems by measuring the strength of coupling and cohesion and considering it a rule that good software has low coupling between its parts and high cohesion within each part, is currently widely accepted. Every paradigm shift, new technology, language, etc. that didn`t consider this fact had to sooner or later leave this industry. It is, therefore, crucial to study and consider this fact in every new topic in the software industry. Surprisingly neither the IEC 61499 nor IEC 61131 communities have yet conducted a deep study to evaluate what coupling and cohesion really mean for Industrial Control and Automation Applications. We hope this paper will manage to fulfill this considerable gap, if not fully at least partially.

Coupling could be an arbitrary property to Industrial Automation and Control Systems (ICAS) with a significant impact on complexity. Different software design approaches may result in coupling between software modules that either increase or decrease the overall system complexity. This paper proposes using the Cynefin Framework to guide the software design patterns used during the high-level design of software architecture, with the intent of reducing components coupling and overall system complexity.

Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) presents an evolution of Ethernet-based communication, especially for industrial automation communication to grow towards convergent networks. Increasing complexity, introduced by TSN with its versatile possibilities, requires a monitoring approach capable of delivering information from different levels. The increased requirements placed on modern networks by I4.0 and IIoT lead to the necessity of monitoring as a holistic approach. For this purpose, both heterogeneous devices and the connections of a communication network are considered a single entity. We introduce a design that represents the balance between flexibility and scalability required by holistic monitoring. We also provide implementation details that satisfy the requirements coming from the presented concept. Furthermore, we present a detailed qualitative evaluation of relevant criteria for monitoring, comparing our approach with classical ones.

The digital twin, or more precisely the Asset Administration Shell, is the key element for interoperability in Industrie 4.0. Together with the asset, it forms the I4.0 component. For the development of I4.0 components, the availability of suitable software development tools is becoming increasingly relevant. However, it is not yet specified how these tools are to be systematically tested for correctness, compliance and conformity. These topics are the focus of this work. We show different established testing methods, evaluate their suitability and describe an approach for a capable test environment.

In the context of Industry 4.0, the industrial production systems present an increasing complexity that mirrors the complexity of industrial communications. This paper presents the further development of a novel approach to deal with this growing complexity and heterogeneity and introduces the work-flow to bring the advantages of open source and standardization together. With the Comprehensive Management Function Model and its manager-centric paradigm, the management of complex industrial communications systems can be implemented as part of Administration Shell 4.0. This approach boosts the automation and knowledge transfer regarding network management dealing with industrial production systems in a holistic manner.

Applying service-oriented concepts in industrial control and automation systems requires developing new architectural concepts to make it more adaptable to this context. In the scope of service-oriented systems one of the main challenges is defining the right granularity for every service in the system. This paper presents a systematic classification of methods to decompose the services. Identifying and using the correct granularity for each service is expected to lead to higher system flexibility, scalability, and in general to improving service deployment and maintenance. To find the best granularity for a service several approaches have been proposed, some of which are based on modeling and others based on service quality analysis. The approach we propose is based on modeling.

Increasing heterogeneity of industrial network systems is a fact and the chances that in the future one communication standard will be able to fulfill the requirements of all possible applications are utopian. With the increasing number of communication systems, their management, configuration, and maintenance become a significant issue. Additionally, due to the increasing amount of network services and traffic, the management of available network resources and the possibility of delivering certain levels of communication quality of service, especially across different network solutions becomes a big challenge. Therefore, in this paper a Controller of Controllers (CoC) concept for management of heterogeneous industrial networks is proposed. The concept is designed to support still widely spread legacy fieldbus systems, different Ethernetbased industrial solutions, and potentially upcoming network technologies. The goal is achieved by leveraging state-of-theart architectural concepts such as software-defined networks, which allows for integration of abstract models in network management. The concept is described and discussed by way of a demonstrator concept for a heterogeneous system of fieldbus and Ethernet-based time-sensitive networks.

The advent of Industry 4.0 brings the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) inside the factory premise and made the boundaries between the information and operational technologies (IT & OT) obsolete. This, in turn, introduces the problem of interoperability due to the integration of multiple industrial protocols and technologies from various automation networks. The aim of this paper is to investigate this interoperability problem of heterogeneous network management and propose a semantic network knowledge base as a solution to it. It also describes a set of generic interface functions for data acquisition.

In this paper, an application topology-aware virtual network mapping and service provisioning framework dubbed “APTASP” is introduced. The framework is presented as a candidate to deal with the expected increase in the complexity of network management originating from the evolution of IoT and Industrial Internet. Envisaged under the programmable network paradigm, it infers the communication relationships between interacting applications from packet headers. Using this information, it recognizes the communication patterns to build up communication relations. The communication relations are then mapped to template network topologies that enable optimized resource allocation while at the same time ensuring QoS adherence. The service provisioning aspect of the framework introduces as well service function constructs which represent virtualized network function chains required for dynamic and automated service setup.

Plug & Produce is an important part of the 4thindustrial revolution (I4.0) that focuses on product development and production scenarios, demanding rapid adaptation to customer needs, with minimum effort, and no business interruption. Achieving this requires the use of flexible and agile automation systems. Microservices Architecture can be an opportunity to bring such flexibility and agility to industrial automation systems. Since Microservices Architecture is a new paradigm in service-oriented systems, an in-depth analysis from the industrial automation perspective is necessary in order to figure out why and how this new architecture could be helpful to build flexible automation systems. In this paper we first clearly describe and characterize the Microservices Architecture. We next discuss an existing paradox in microservice granularity, and suggest an approach to solve the mentioned paradox. Then we compare this new approach to the Service Oriented Architecture, highlight the key (dis)advantages of utilizing Microservice Architecture in building flexible automation systems that fits in 4thindustrial revolution needs, and describe the challenges to its future adoption.

The main challenge of exposing IEC61499 or IEC61131-3 Function Blocks as a service remains in adopting service-oriented concepts in function block programming. Implementing an IEC61499 or IEC61131-3 Function Block that is being accessed via service-oriented protocols is straight forward. The main challenge remains in modeling a Function Block as a service. Adopting service-oriented concepts like Service Oriented Architecture or Microservice Architecture requires tackling challenges like service granularity, (de)composition, etc. For instance, too coarse-grained services could lead to significant drawbacks, while too fine-grained services could increase the system's overall complexity, introducing semantic tight coupling and bringing about communication overhead. Therefore, understanding whether a service (de)composition is adding any value could help us to identify the best service granularity. Finding the best service granularity means knowing how many Function Blocks could be exposed into one service. This could undeniable lead to improvement in resource consumption especially in constraint environments. In this paper we design a cost analysis function for calculating the overhead of service decomposition. This work will help to answer one of the most important aspects of the service-oriented approach, called service granularity in the scope of Function Block as a Service.

The comprehensive management function models (CMFM) represent a solution for the growing heterogeneity in the management plane of the industrial domain. We present the internal structure of the CMFM with a meta-model. The use of semantic techniques and knowledge formalization is a first step towards management automation from a human-centric point of view. This human-centric character also helps to keep the overview and comprehensive understanding in the vast field of the network management. The evaluation of the CMFM against well-known and widely used network management systems explains the extent of the novelty of this approach. The CMFM ease the management of heterogeneous industrial networks and are a first step towards the application of further automation measures like artificial intelligence.

The overall Industry 4.0 (I4.0) developments combined with the disruptive process of IT-based digitalisation create a vast amount of new opportunities but also challenges for the industrial automation domain. The combination of hybrid (wired & wireless) communication architectures, already widely installed legacy technologies, new approaches, such as Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) or 5G, and the general heterogeneity of the industrial landscape results in a high configuration complexity. This creates the necessity for future-proof industrial communication network management systems. Therefore, this paper summarises the current state of the art in this area in order to identify the specific requirements towards future industrial network management systems. The most promising candidate is the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) concept. To evaluate SDN as a possible enabler, specified industrial requirements are compared with the current technological and conceptual capabilities of SDN. In addition, drawbacks resulting in future research questions are identified.

The digital revolution in industry, buildings, and the Internet of Things will massively increase the number of sensor, actuator, and control devices in the near future. This will lead to the further automation of many tasks in the life cycle of the systems from design to commissioning and operation. Device and system models are a key enabler in this goal as they provide a holistic information pool that can be utilized by various tools and users along the life cycle. This paper analyzes the current state of the art of device and system models. It looks across different domains from industrial automation to building automation and sensor networks, defines the common tasks in their life cycle, and classifies the information required to execute and automate them. It compares 24 common device modeling approaches against these requirements and unveils how ready they are for the future and what they lack.

The industry is evolving towards a future of smart factories, aided by initiatives like Factories of the Future, Digital Factory and Industrie 4.0. The enabling technologies of this evolution are Industrial Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems and Plug-and-Produce, among others. This paper discusses the idea of a control application following the philosophy of Industrie 4.0 components, and taking advantage of recent research on reliable control schemas. The aim is a control application that is deployable on different platforms, including cloud based, and that is aware of its environment, i.e. computing power, memory, network, etc. This control application will be able to adapt flexibly to given resource and connectivity conditions by shaping its control value matrix, reacting in runtime to changes in the environment.

Industrie 4.0 components should offer flexible functionality for modern production systems. In order to achieve this flexibility, they provide functions that shall be described and implemented in an easy way. The term “functional element” is known from device profile specifications. Originally designed to be implemented in field devices, these specifications can also be used in Industrie 4.0 components. Until today, the functionality of field devices and Industrie 4.0 components is developed in a manual way. With a universal interchange format for device profiles, they can be used for automatic generation and deployment of functionality. This paper presents an analysis of requirements for the generation of functional elements. It discusses existing interchange formats, describes necessary adaptations, and evaluates the developed interchange format with different device profiles.

The papers in this special section introduce various new works in the area of semantic technologies in industrial informatics. They address common problems in the state of the art and illustrate the benefit of semantic technologies to automation in many practical scenarios.

Todays production processes are becoming more and more flexible. Customers frequently demand specific production steps that fit to their processes. This leads to a needed flexibility for systems that are used to support decision making processes and the production itself. In this paper an approach is presented that uses process definition coming from an integrated enterprise modelling for connecting information systems and production systems modules. An architecture is presented that uses these models for each process step to provide the needed information for decision makers.

Field devices are offering more and more functionality to automation systems. This leads to a complexity increase of such devices, and to a rise in engineering effort. Additionally, the demand for semantic annotations of many device information is growing. Nowadays, profiles provide a solid base for device functions and structure. However, the current way of realizing a profile-based device is far away from becoming a reality due to the demand for reducing expenses in device manufacturing. The paper presents a toolchain approach for a profile based and semantically enriched field device development. The application function of such devices is generated from several device profile specifications. The semantic information form the device profile is annotated to the generated functional elements and to the device descriptions that have to be delivered with a field device.

Wireless communication technologies are adopted more and more in industrial applications. While being accepted as an add-on focusing on tasks like asset management, the use of wireless connection in the control loop is still less common. A main requirement for such an application is a reliable communication solution. The paper discusses a system approach of integrating wireless communication systems into a control application by using a model predictive control and an intelligent radio proxy in order to minimize the issues derived from a wireless connection, like packet loss and jitter. The engineering of such a solution is supported by a specific PLC function block.

This paper presents an approach for managing alarms and diagnoses in an integrated IT and automation environment. In order to face the challenges of the integration of IT services with automation systems, an approach based on WBEM/CIM is presented. The provided solution is mostly not bound to specific vendors or fieldbus technologies and can easily be extended towards other requirements and scenarios.

Condition monitoring and diagnostic systems support the operators of machines and plants. By these means, machine operators can run their plants efficiently, perform effective preventive maintenance and supply superordinate information systems with valid machine data. This paper describes the VDMA reference architecture for condition monitoring systems. The components of the architecture are described and their application across all levels of an automation system is shown, combining the single functions to a complete condition monitoring system.

Bridging the two domains of building and industrial automation systems at their management levels is a topic hardly regarded so far. Nevertheless, cross-domain integration promises significant benefits in terms of resource consumption and costs optimisation where systems of both worlds encounter each other. To this aim, this work presents an OPC UA information modelling framework providing a holistic information base for both domains. This facilitates the implementation of cross-domain management applications in the context of smart grids with the potential goals to coordinate the reuse of waste energy, to avoid peak loads and to predict energy demand.

Field devices are offering more and more functionality to automation systems. This leads to increasing complexity of such devices, to more engineering efforts, and requires more integration tests. Rapid Prototyping is an accepted approach for reducing engineering efforts. Referring to the existing software field device “Generic Device” the paper presents a semi-automatic approach for field device development in the context of rapid prototyping. The application function of such devices is generated from application profile specifications. Concepts, features and tools are described. A validation of the approach based on PROFINET IO devices is included.

The time in use of automation and control systems is typically much longer than technology development cycles. This is especially true with respect to the ongoing integration of IT technologies. In order to ensure the usage of automation systems during their planned time in use, the evolution of such systems need to be considered. This demands for generic models for handling life-cycle related information, and for suitable strategies to manage the life cycles of automation systems and their components. The paper discusses requirements from different industries, presents models for life cycle information and for managing compatibility throughout long periods. Finally, different strategies for life-cycle-management are described and a short outlook to standardization of the models is given.

For several years many applications are using wireless communication in industrial automation, although wireless solutions (WS) are not yet fully integrated into the life cycle (LC) process of automation systems. Since several wireless technologies are candidates to fulfill given automation communication requirements, it is almost impossible for automation engineers to select the appropriate solution, to plan wireless solutions, or to perform diagnosis or fault analysis of a wireless network. Wireless specialists and specific tools are necessary for each potential WS. To overcome this problem, an information model for handling wireless systems throughout the life cycle (LC) has been developed in order to support automation engineers accessing the appropriate information when required. This paper presents the results of the project.

Interoperability between different technologies in the industrial and building domains of automation has already become a significant research topic. Extending this thought towards cross-domain interoperability, synergy effects arise from the resulting unified view to process data of both domains. This facilitates savings of energy, working time and materials. In this work a cross-domain information model aiming at this goal is proposed.

In this article an approach towards a modular generic field device, running on standard PC-hardware is presented. The work focusses on generating large numbers of software devices to be employed in stress test scenarios. The concept is based upon open source operating systems and virtualization. The design decisions regarding platform and device structure are discussed in detail. Furthermore a forecast on future real time capabilities of the approach is presented.

This paper proposes a concept to extend Field Device Integration (FDI) to address equipment which has no dedicated communication interfaces. An FDI equipment package knows the relevant field devices and algorithms that are necessary for diagnosis, condition monitoring and other plant asset management activities. FDI Equipment packages do not need any specific distributed control system support; given the current FDI draft however an additional software component is necessary which uses the standard interfaces of the FDI server. The proposed concept enables equipment vendors and process specialists to deliver FDI Equipment packages that run in every automation architecture that supports FDI. The run-time concept is complemented by engineering workflows and algorithms that automate the assignment of field devices and parameterization of the FDI equipment packages from formal plant engineering data.

In modern automation systems, where a large amount of devices and a set of inter-operating heterogeneous field buses exist, the management of all the devices is still done device-by-device. Complex functions like “call device maintainer after reaching a device's service hour counter” for a group of devices within the network are still missing. Common management protocols like SNMP are not suitable for realizing such commands. With the introduction of Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) by the Distributed Management Task Force, an extensible system for the management of IT devices has been developed. This paper describes an approach how WBEM can be used for the management of PROFIBUS and PROFINET field bus systems using PROFIBUS International's “Identification & Maintenance” functions.

Although there are already many applications using wireless communication in industrial automation those wireless solutions (WS) are not yet fully integrated into the life cycle (LC) process of automation systems. Since several wireless technologies are candidates to fulfill given automation communication requirements it is almost impossible for automation engineers to select the appropriate solution, to plan wireless solutions, or to perform diagnosis or fault analysis of a wireless network. Wireless specialists are necessary for each potential WS. To overcome this problem a project was started to develop information models for each phase of the life cycle (LC) in order to support automation engineers recording or accessing the appropriate information when required. This paper introduces the objective and the approach of this project.

Industrial communication systems standardize communication protocols and services. Interoperability within automation and control systems need additional application definitions. This is usually organized with fieldbus profile specifications. Profiles become part of the overall development process of the device manufacturer. Unfortunately, today's profile descriptions are very informal and have nearly no support for the development process. This paper presents a semi-formal profile specification approach, based on IEC 62390 and using a mixed UML and MS Word process. Result of both specifications is an XML representation which can be integrated in the device development process. This method is developed for the PROFIBUS User Organisation for PROFIBUS and PROFINET device profiles.

Integration of field devices is currently performed using different device models which all have a different focus. These models are represented by a vast number of different device description formats. For effectiveness of the integration processes, a comprehensive device description model that catches all relevant information is required. Based on an analysis of important formats, a device description model has been designed that covers all relevant information that was formerly stored in those different formats. In this paper the requirements for such a model are discussed, and a universal model integrating existing definitions is described.

While ontologies are becoming an accepted measure for computational information mapping, the definition of ontologies can lead to dead ends when integration of information is to be facilitated. Specialized ontologies tend to be impossible for the use in different contexts than the one they were defined for. In order to make the interoperation of different ontologies with different specializations possible for information exchange, the authors had developed a concept for integration ontologies. These serve as mediators, metamodeling the ontologies. The next challenge when integrating ontologically accessible information is the task of implementing the concept. This paper presents first experiences and implementation approaches that are under work.

The rise of Industrial Ethernet as network technology for Distributed Automation Systems introduces the need for migration strategies from field bus based systems towards this new technology. This paper discusses the problem of acquiring and translating the information needed for the setup of a PROFINET/PROFIBUS proxy as an example for a migration solution. The diverse technologies defined for device information and representation are examined with respect to this task. Furthermore a solution to facilitate the engineering of such a proxy is presented.

In typical manufacturing information systems often the vertical integration and the inter-process communication are achieved by separate technologies. Though many standards like OPC and PROFINET simplify these tasks even with integration of standard PC hard- and software, they need at some points specific equipment. The system described in this paper implements Web service functionality to distributed production processes on standard PC hardware. The goal is to integrate them vertically into high level enterprise applications and at the same time to provide a direct inter-process communication over the same interface. Furthermore the process and workflow definitions are configurable at any time which makes the system flexible to any changes of the manufacturing process or information flow.

Manufacturing Execution Systems as they are outlined by the IEC 62264 standard provide a variety of functions in the manufacturing domain, including the management of maintenance operations. For these operations access to equipment information is important. However, a suitable information model is still missing. In regard to the life-cycle of equipment, this paper motivates the generation of an equipment information model especially for the facilitation of deployment. The practical basis is a framework for predictive maintenance which aims at integration of a broad range of information sources.

Today the manufacturing of piezomotors consists of various heterogeneous, evolving and it-isolated production processes. The main task of the middleware is to provide a simple, flexible and extendable method for the integration of all existing and future processes to a centralized information system. Then with this system it is possible to present filtered information for special applications like business control or quality analysis. In addition the message orientated middleware enables a communication between all processes which is the base for an automated manufacturing system.

In already installed fieldbus instrumentations, a configuration-free and manufacturer-independent access to field device information sets is still missing. Due to the lack of suitable and simple models, as well as of interaction patterns of field devices in various information worlds of process control engineering, the practical use made of device novelties is rather complex. This affects high investments for engineering this information in various applications of process control engineering. Modern field devices contain embedded information sets that are ever-increasing, and provide great opportunity for innovative asset management functionality. In this paper we present an information server, serving as an additional information channel between field and plant level in process industry. We show that this so-called asset management box provides the configuration-free analysis of fieldbus segments, the open access to installed field devices and the automatically updated, structured and self-descriptive presentation of their embedded information sets. Its basic functionality fulfills one prerequisite of an efficient asset management system: the analysis of the actual state of a fieldbus installation, without prior knowledge about the installed field devices and enhanced investments in engineering. We discuss several asset management applications, implemented on the asset management box. To prevent excessive investments for engineering of asset management applications themselves, widest flexibility and extensibility of the management systems' functionality is required. The box's structure permits easy extensibility of plant and client-specific applications as well as the easy integration of specific fieldbus hardware, the box provides a universal fieldbus interface.

Web technologies are gaining increased importance in automation and control systems. The choice of appropriate Web technologies depends on the use cases in the application environment. However, it is important not only to focus on a single technology, but to integrate them into a content model. The paper discusses a Web portal for maintenance of machines, that uses several Web technologies. It is based on a hierarchical description model. The structure of this model is described and application aspects are shown.

The adoption of Web-related technologies is an important challenge. Web integration does not only cover the adoption of technologies in application, but also a transparent integration of Web application protocols and use of description technology for interfaces. These tasks can be combined within a framework, allowing applications to share information with each other using standardised access methods and exchange formats. The paper outlines the meaning of a generic description and of an appropriate content model for Web integration of factory communication systems.

Effective solutions for asset management become increasingly important in modern automation and control systems. They are especially required in the area of process control. The control systems used here usually consist of PLC-based networks, which are optimised concerning the special temporal and topological requirements of the process. Asset management functions have to be introduced to those systems, without any influence on the existing equipment. The paper shows an object-oriented solution based on PROFIBUS-PA device. By automatically evaluating a system structure and mapping the profile-relevant parameters of devices to proxy objects, different application modules for asset management functions can be implemented acting on these objects.

Enterprise integration is one of the most important tasks in modern automation and control solutions. For effective applications at enterprise level, specific interfaces and description models have to be defined. Considering these enterprise applications playing each a specific use case, a role, to the underlying automation and control system, role-specific descriptions with special semantics and syntax have to be generated. These descriptions represent specific views of a general system's information set. To keep them consistent and easy to create, new methods for their handling have to be introduced. This paper shows a concept for generating role-specific descriptions based on XML.