Engineering Of Automation Systems Research Articles

SECHA: A Smart Energy-Efficient and Cost-Effective Home Automation System for Developing Countries

Home automation systems are gaining a lot of attraction globally and changing the way we live. They simplify our lives, reduce workloads, improve home safety and security, and pave the way for newer developments. It is no wonder why these systems are in such high demand and why modernization is needed to keep up with consumer needs. Nevertheless, utilizing home automation system technology can be energy-intensive and costly—especially for middle-class families in developing countries. In this article, we discuss SECHA, a smart, energy-efficient, and cost-effective home automation system. It empowers users to automate their homes with IoT regardless of the residence type. SECHA is developed with the goal of being energy-efficient, simple to use, and open-source for everyone’s benefit. SECHA has developed a low-cost smart home automation system that incorporates Wi-Fi and GSM technology, enabling remote monitoring and control of appliances through an Android application. This solution enables users to easily monitor and manage their homes. An automation system has been developed using an ESP32 microcontroller equipped with Wi-Fi and GSM SIM800. This impressive setup is further enhanced by the integration of several sensors that enable monitoring of temperature, humidity, movement, and other aspects at home.

A Prototype Design of Smart Quranic Garden System using ATmega328 and ESP8266 Microcontrollers

Medicinal plants are one of the leading plants cultivated by farmers in Parongpong District, West Bandung Regency. There are so many benefits of medicinal plants, especially the bidara plant which is the main commodity of a farmer group called the Quran Garden Foundation. The vision of this bidara cultivation is in addition to a health function, as well as an effort to implement the sunnah in Islam. Therefore, the authors initiated the Smart Quranic Garden System prototype which is based on green house system automation technology and Internet of Things (IoT) based security using the ATmega328 and ESP8266 microcontrollers. This research was conducted using experimental methods, namely design and testing. The system built on this prototype includes watering, weather and security. Based on the test results, the pump on the watering system works when the soil moisture sensor detects soil moisture at an ADC value of more than or equal to 700. Whereas in the weather system, the heater will work when DHT11 detects a temperature below 25oC and the blower will work when a temperature is detected above 30oC. . The security system also responds according to the program that is set, namely the relay for the solenoid lock door will open only when the password is correct and the virtual button on Blynk is pressed. It is hoped that the system in this prototype can be implemented so that the growth height of the bidara plant in Parongpong district can be optimized.

Accelerating manufacturing for biomass conversion via integrated process and bench digitalization: a perspective

This article provides a vision on how to accelerate the production of chemicals and fuels from biomass feedstocks using an integrated framework of data mining, retrosynthesis, lab automation, and process systems engineering.

Increased efficiency in virtual commissioning with automated model generation based on component libraries

The use of Virtual Commissioning (VC) is becoming increasingly relevant for the engineering of automation systems. VC allows for validating concepts and design solutions in the early phases of product development, thereby improving communication among disciplines, reducing the costs for bug fixing and accelerating the overall engineering process, in particular the commissioning of plants and machines. However, as an additional software tool in engineering, the introduction of VC causes initial training and more importantly continuous extra modelling efforts. An approach to overcome this flaw is the automated generation of VC models based on existing engineering information from the system or domain level - ideally in tandem with the reuse of solution models from previous project. The latter can prove particularly beneficial in the context of modular building-block systems as often pursued in automation engineering.This paper presents a practical implementation of an automated VC model generation solution based on system structure and layout models combined with an object library containing additional model information of the applied automation components. The presented use case addresses VC simulation models of intralogistics warehousing systems where the layout plans provide information about type, position and dimension of predefined subsystems, modules or components which are then being analyzed and merged with additional model information. By means of a specific exporter the assembled model information is being filtered and transferred into the simulation environment via a standard API. Significant time savings could be demonstrated in this use case. Based on these results a generalized framework for more efficient interdisciplinary engineering processes based on automated data exchange as well as automated model transformation and generation has been derived and will be presented along with an outlook on future research activities.

AVA: A component-oriented abstraction layer for virtual plug&produce automation systems engineering

The prevailing system and software model in automation systems engineering is defined by the IEC 61131 norm. It is to date the best way we know how to express low-level logic and manipulate electrical hardware signals. However, the exponential technological growth is continuing to raise the expectations on what automation systems are supposed to be capable of doing. Fulfilling rising requirements and managing the exploding complexity requires a systematic support for high-level descriptions, structuring, and communication, which the original approach was not built to provide. This work proposes the introduction of an abstraction layer, a component-container infrastructure, defined on top of standard system and software models in automation and mirroring the world of cyber–physical systems, where independent components are interconnected to realize the systems’ purpose by using each other’s functionalities. The concept is implemented in the form of a domain-specific modeling language, applying a classical two-level Model-driven Software Engineering (MDSE) approach. By engineering distinct industrial use cases in accordance with the proposed approach, it is shown that the defined abstractions and mechanisms are capable of expressing the nuances of software design in different domains and can enable the streamlining of the automation systems engineering workflow into a virtual plug&produce process.

Research on Key Technologies of Power System Automation in Smart Grid

The paper summarizes the construction mode of distribution network automation system, and sorts out the operating characteristics of centralized intelligent mode and distributed intelligent mode. In view of the construction and operation of China’s distribution network automation system, point out common problems in system construction, operation and management in most regions. At the same time, the paper proposes the optimization of distribution network automation technology based on the gravity search algorithm, and improves the algorithm. Finally, the improved gravity search algorithm is applied to the IEEE 6-node power system. The calculation results show that the active power loss and voltage obtained by the algorithm are Compared with the original state, the level has been greatly improved, which greatly improves the automation efficiency of the power system. In this paper, the gravity search algorithm is used to calculate the optimization of power system automation technology, and the algorithm is improved, which overcomes the shortcoming of easy convergence to the local optimum.

Flexibility is Trump

Vision and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are Megatrends in Automation, Next to IIoT, Industry 4.0 and Cyber-Virtual Factories. Embedded Computer Technologies for Such Systems have to Meet Increasingly Complex Demands. What's Good Enough Today may be too Little Tomorrow. With their High Scalability, Computer-on-Modules can Provide the Necessary Flexibility and, as Convergent Components, are even Suitable for closed-Loop Engineering of Automation Systems

RANCANG BANGUN VENDING MACHINE MENGGUNAKAN QR CODE BERBASIS MIKROKONTROLER

One of the technologies that continues to be developed today is automated system technology. An automatic system that has the potential to continue to develop in this modern era is the vending machine. Along with the development of technology, vending machines have begun to be developed using tags / RFID cards (Radio Frequency Identification) in lieu of paper money. The disadvantage of this system is the dependence of machine activation on an RFID tag / card that still has security risks. Therefore, a vending machine will be developed using QR (Quick Response) Code and integrated with an Android-based smartphone instead of RFID. The microcontroller based vending machine system uses a QR Code to work to serve drinks automatically after processing serial data sent by a smartphone through an application that has been designed with Bluetooth communication. Users can register an account on the application and fill in the balance to buy canned drinks at the vending machine.

Virtual engineering of cyber-physical automation systems: The case of control logic

Mastering the fusion of information and communication technologies with physical systems to cyber-physical automation systems is of main concern to engineers in the industrial automation domain. The engineering of these systems is challenging as their distributed nature and the heterogeneity of stakeholders and tools involved in their engineering contradict the need for the simultaneous engineering of their cyber and physical parts over their life cycle. This paper presents a novel approach based on the virtual engineering method, which provides support for the simultaneous engineering of the cyber and physical parts of automation systems. The approach extends and integrates the life cycle centered view mandated by current conceptual architectures and the digital twin paradigm with an integrated, iterative engineering method. The benefits of the approach are highlighted in a case study related to the engineering of the control logic of a cyber physical automation system originating from the process engineering domain. We describe for the first time a modular domain ontology, which formally describes the cyber and physical part of the system. We present cyber services built on top of the ontology layer, which allow to automatically verify different control logic types and simultaneously verify cyber and physical parts of the system in an incremental manner.

Engineering Methods and Tools for Cyber–Physical Automation Systems

Much has been published about potential benefits of the adoption of cyber–physical systems (CPSs) in manufacturing industry. However, less has been said about how such automation systems might be effectively configured and supported through their lifecycles and how application modeling, visualization, and reuse of such systems might be best achieved. It is vitally important to be able to incorporate support for engineering best practice while at the same time exploiting the potential that CPS has to offer in an automation systems setting. This paper considers the industrial context for the engineering of CPS. It reviews engineering approaches that have been proposed or adopted to date including Industry 4.0 and provides examples of engineering methods and tools that are currently available. The paper then focuses on the CPS engineering toolset being developed by the Automation Systems Group (ASG) in the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, Coventry, U.K. and explains via an industrial case study how such a component-based engineering toolset can support an integrated approach to the virtual and physical engineering of automation systems through their lifecycle via a method that enables multiple vendors' equipment to be effectively integrated and provides support for the specification, validation, and use of such systems across the supply chain, e.g., between end users and system integrators.

Special section on semantic technologies in automation systems

Special section on semantic technologies in automation systems

Interdisciplinary Communication and Comprehension in Factory Automation Engineering - A Concept for an Immersive Virtual Environment

In engineering of factory automation systems, understanding and discussing complex systems is important for a competitive development process. Understanding complex connections within these systems while working with interdisciplinary teams scattered around the globe can be a very challenging task. An intuitive way for comprehension and communication within this environment would be beneficial. For this reason, we propose a concept for a virtual environment for gaining a quicker understanding of complex systems and their connections, as well as a way for presentation and discussion using the concept of virtual reality. This is approached by using an immersive way of visualizing and interacting with complex information. The environment itself as well as different ways of immersing in it are presented. To highlight the properties of the approach, an application example is given.

Study of Building Automation Systems Engineering

BA System (Building Automation System) is an important intelligentized subsystem of Intelligent Building, also known as the groundwork of intelligent integration. It is the integration of multi-subsystems, which aims at automatic device management, efficiently saves energy and reduces use-cost. What is outstanding out of all effort for saving energy in modere Intelligent Building are both supervision and control of air-conditioner system. Now BA System comprises the basic components, here they are: central station, sub-station, spot meters, Control Network.According to survey, there are few stable BA System for long, without regard to amount of those existence. It results directly in massive equipments and related investment suspended. The thing is gone for little. The thesis illuminates functions and components of BA System thoroughly, gives further details of key technique---Control Network and System Integration, and predicts trend of this system. Based on the analysis mentioned along whith my experence, the procedure, principles and key point of BA System design and device choice are given; further more, embodies methods through illustrating real project for better utilization of BA System. In the end a conclusion and forecast of BA System are put forward.

Interface Behavior Modeling for Automatic Verification of Industrial Automation Systems' Functional Conformance

Abstract To facilitate engineering and evolution of automation systems, ensuring the correctness of the design models is an important topic. Industrial automation systems are composed of various heterogeneous elements designed by different disciplines such as mechanical, electrical/electronic and software engineering. In this contribution, an approach for modeling industrial automation systems is presented which is based on interface behavior modeling of design artifacts and which supports automatic verification of their functional conformance while considering information from various disciplines.

Automation meets CPS

Cyber Physical Systems describe a trend towards more flexible cooperative distributed systems. The levels of the automation pyramid melt to a flattened system. This leads to new requirements regarding the engineering of automation systems as well as tools and algorithms for network and data analysis. At the same time it provides loose coupling with Internet/Web based technologies for interaction and information management. Proven concepts of middleware and distributed systems can fulfill these requirements. A workflow and application model are presented that allow the engineering, implementation and operation of a heterogeneous cyber physical system.

Software Agents in Industrial Automation Systems

Agent orientation is moving from its origins in computer science into applied automation systems engineering. The main benefit of using software agents in industrial automation is the combined application of agent-oriented software engineering with growing fields such as semantic technologies. Software agents also provide flexibility, which is often the key requirement for creating software system architectures that can evolve at runtime.

A Home Automation Application Based on WSN and Service Robot

In recent years, the home environment has seen a rapid introduction of network enabled digital technology. This technology offers new and exciting opportunities to increase the connectivity of devices within the home for the purpose of home automation. The use of wireless technologies in automation systems offers attractive benefits and in the same time introduces a number of new technological challenges.Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have recently been proposed for a large range of applications in home and industrial automation, and for health and environment monitoring. ZigBee standard is getting more and more attention as it can be used to implement wireless sensor networks for its low data rate and low power consumption. There are a large number of reseaches dealing with WSN applications, but it is still possible to explored in WSN development and maintenance. Based on the integration of WSN and the service robots, this paper implemented a home automation application. In this work the service robots can be considered to be mobiles nodes that provide additional sensorial information, improve/repair the connectivity and collect information from wireless sensor nodes. And the WSN provide a smart environment for the service robots.

Integrated Graph Transformations in Automation Systems

AbstractA crucial part of the automation system engineering consists of the reconciliation of engineering models. Hence, information from a source model is used to generate instances of a target model. For example, for each element in the plant and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) a corresponding representative is generated on the operator screen of the human machine interface (HMI). Most of those reconciliations follow simple rules. Nevertheless, due to the lack of tool support, most of this work is done manually. On the other hand, well studied transformation techniques exist, whichin the field of model driven development. The paper combines the concept of model transformation with the help of triple graph grammars (TGGs) and the approach of an integrated rule-based system to gain a formal background for the model transformation at runtime of an automation system. It will be demonstrated that TGGs are suitable to formulate the transformation rules in automation system engineering and that the rules can be generated by the system engineer without additional knowledge. Further, the paper proposes the adaption of the existing rule-based system ACPLT/RE to the concepts of bidirectional TGG rules to benefit from the possibilities of the TGG concept for model transformation at runtime. Finally the potential of model transformation at runtime with special focus on automation system engineering is demonstrated with the help of the flow analysis example.

Test-Case Generation for the Validation of Integrated Automation Systems Engineering Environments

AbstractAutomation Systems Engineering Projects typically involve the cooperation of a set of different engineering disciplines and therefore heavily rely on systems integration approaches. However, the configuration of the underlying technical integration platform is a complex and error-prone task requiring high manual effort checking whether the integration of an engineering tool is compatible with all running engineering processes and affecting engineering tools. Therefore, the outcome of the integration is only known at the end of the integration process. In this paper we describe a model-based concept which facilitates the derivation of test cases for introducing test methods at an early stage of the integration process by using ontologies. Based on an industrial scenario we discuss that the approach helps verify compatibility of the integration solution as knowledge regarding the overall system is captured.

Virtual Commissioning of Modular Automation Systems

A new concept in modular automation systems and their virtual engineering is presented. The new approach is aimed to provide support for the reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) approach to automation. Manufacturing industries are moving to the concept of RMS to fulfill the great demand to deliver greater levels of product customisation at a higher quality and at reduced cost. RMS allows the manufacturing companies to quickly implement innovative design changes in their products and produce a greater number of product variants on leaner production lines with shorter times to market. The aim of this research is to enable production machines to be more easily and cost effectively built and subsequently reconfigurable through the adoption of a component-based approach to their implementation utilising virtual manufacturing tools. It is proposed that through the decomposition of manufacturing machines into standardized mechanisms and their associated data structures, a RMS can be designed and implemented. Research conducted at Loughborough University into the development of concepts and tools to support the global engineering of component-based reconfigurable manufacturing automation systems in the automotive production domain is described in this paper. A collaborative framework to integrate and coordinate the various engineering activities of globally distributed engineering teams involved in the design, implementation, operation and diagnosis of production machinery is also described.