Organizing IoT Systems-of-Systems from standardized engineering data

Abstract

Tackling current challenges in production automation requires the involvement of new concepts like Internet of Things, System-of-Systems and local automation clouds. The objective of this paper is to address the actual process of defining a cloud based automation system. More specifically the design, engineering, operation and maintenance of an automation system must be captured and managed between all stakeholders involved. This is critical to create the expected benefits from the local automation cloud approach. This paper addresses the capability of capturing plant designs and coordinating information exchange based on the captured architecture. For this purpose an architectural component - Plant Description - is proposed to be used in the Arrowhead Framework, based on already existing plant automation standards. An overview of methodologies on how it can interact with the Arrowhead Framework's Orchestration process describes the usefulness in managing large-scale automation systems. A qualitative evaluation for one of the proposed approaches is also described in a water control use case that can be found both in process and building automation.