Industrial Information Integration Research Articles

Editorial to the special issue “Transdisciplinary approaches for industrial information integration engineering I”

Efficiently allocating tracks for trains in high-speed train stations is crucial for avoiding train conflicts. The wireless sensor networks (WSN) can support intelligent infrastructure and make train stations smart. After wireless sensors collect vast amount of dynamic information, information integration is an effective approach for achieving efficiency in data process. So far, many approaches have been proposed by scholars for optimizing track allocation. However, no optimization method has been presented for track allocation in smart high-speed train stations from the perspective of industrial information integration. Accordingly, this paper proposes a model for optimizing track allocation by setting the balance of track occupied times and the balance of track occupied interval as objective functions. A simulated annealing algorithm is developed for finding solutions for the model. An application is presented to verify the proposed model and algorithm.

Structural information integration for predicting damages in bridges

Abstract Industrial Information Integration Engineering interacts with each of the twelve engineering disciplines defined by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. Civil Engineering is one of the twelve engineering sections. Integration of information can be a very valuable method for civil engineering. In the management of the highway bridges, bridge design and operation parameters and inspection results are recorded according to national and state guides and the data is coded and archived in what is known as the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) database. The integration of the information in the NBI database can be a very valuable method for managing of bridges. The major challenges of the information in such a database are unbalance, complexity, subjectivity, and incompleteness, which make developing a damage prediction model from such information difficult. Particularly, the prediction and management of bridge abutment distress is difficult since their generation mechanism is not clear. The purpose of this study was to integrate the information of the inspections database and establish models to predict abutment distress. Input variables for the networks were selected from knowledge-based evaluations, statistical analyses, and trial and error. Four neural network models were developed and evaluated: the multilayer perceptron and support vector machine models predicted abutment condition better than a supervised self-organizing map and radial basis function networks.

A novel hypergraph-based feature extraction technique for boiler flue gas components classification using PNN – A computational model for boiler flue gas analysis

Abstract Mathematical programming is an art that provides precise techniques for solving a class of problems. Many industrial problems require Discrete Mathematical (DM) structures with which techniques can be developed to solve many well-posed problems. Hypergraph is one such DM tool which can address essential parts of intelligent computing in many industrial problems, the importance due to the need for accruing data from a sensor like devices for further analysis especially in applications such as boiler flue gas analysis, safety engineering etc. Various data classification schemes involve feature extraction techniques that provide intelligent measures to take an appropriate decision based on machine intelligence and hence Feature extraction from in Boiler Flue Gases (BFG) can be considered as an Industrial Information Integration research problem. A wide variety of feature extraction techniques has been reported to literature. But not many classifiers that exploit geometrical and topological features of the database have been utilized to design computationally efficient classifiers. In this paper, a Hypergraph (HG)-based feature extraction technique is developed in order to derive both topological and geometrical features through hyperedges that describe n-ary relations among the data containing feature vectors. These HG features obtained using Helly property of HG, have then been utilized to train a PNN (HGPNN) to classify the frequency responses of the sensors which can correspond to various mass concentrations of flue gas by detecting the nonlinearity. The classification capability of this HGPNN has been validated with the VOC benchmark data set. The classification capability of the proposed HGPNN has been analyzed first for the flue gas data acquired from ORSAT analyzer and then for the data from KANE® analyzer.

Industrial information integration—A literature review 2006–2015

Abstract In the last few years, Industrial Information Integration Engineering (IIIE) has attracted much attention by the information and communications technology (ICT) community. However, despite of the dynamic nature of this research area, a systematic and extensive review of recent research on IIIE is unavailable. Accordingly, this study conducts an intensive literature review on IIIE and presents an overview of IIIE's content, scope and findings, and potential research opportunities by examining existing literatures from 2006 to 2015 in all databases within Web of Science. Altogether, 497 papers related to IIIE are grouped into 37 research categories and reviewed. The results add knowledge to the existing ones by answering what the current level of development on IIIE is and what the potential future research directions of IIIE are.

An industrial information integration approach to in-orbit spacecraft

ABSTRACTTo operate an in-orbit spacecraft, the spacecraft status has to be monitored autonomously by collecting and analysing real-time data, and then detecting abnormities and malfunctions of system components. To develop an information system for spacecraft state detection, we investigate the feasibility of using ontology-based artificial intelligence in the system development. We propose a new modelling technique based on the semantic web, agent, scenarios and ontologies model. In modelling, the subjects of astronautics fields are classified, corresponding agents and scenarios are defined, and they are connected by the semantic web to analyse data and detect failures. We introduce the modelling methodologies and the resulted framework of the status detection information system in this paper. We discuss system components as well as their interactions in details. The system has been prototyped and tested to illustrate its feasibility and effectiveness. The proposed modelling technique is generic which can be extended and applied to the system development of other large-scale and complex information systems.

Engineering Informatics: State of the Art and Future Trends

Engineering informatics is an emerging engi- neering discipline integrating information technology or in- formatics with a variety of engineering disciplines. It is an interdisciplinary scientific subject focusing on applying ad - vanced information and communications technology (ICT) to a variety of engineering disciplines. Rapid advances in industrial information integration methods have spurred the growth of new techniques that can be used for probing indus- trial information integration including engineering informat- ics. These techniques include business process management (BPM), enterprise architecture (EA), enterprise application integration (EAI), service-oriented architecture (SOA), and others. Practical applications may require a combination of these techniques that have originated from different disci- plines. These techniques have the potential to contribute to engineering informatics. For integrating complex engineer- ing systems, both formal methods and systems methods are crucial. In this paper, we briefly review the state of the art of engineering informatics as it interfacing with industrial information integration.

Information flow in reverse logistics: an industrial information integration study

With the coming of low-carbon society, the reverse logistics of used batteries for lowering the carbon emission becomes an important research topic; in which, information integration of reverse logistics is the key for implementing reverse logistics systems. Currently there are not many enterprises that are capable of using enterprise systems or e-business systems to manage reverse logistics. In the framework of industrial information integration engineering, this research investigates the process of reverse logistics of used batteries, with an emphasis on the information integration of reverse logistics of used batteries.

Enterprise Systems: State-of-the-Art and Future Trends

Rapid advances in industrial information integration methods have spurred tremendous growth in the use of enterprise systems. Consequently, a variety of techniques have been used for probing enterprise systems. These techniques include business process management, workflow management, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), grid computing, and others. Many applications require a combination of these techniques, which is giving rise to the emergence of enterprise systems. Development of the techniques has originated from different disciplines and has the potential to significantly improve the performance of enterprise systems. However, the lack of powerful tools still poses a major hindrance to exploiting the full potential of enterprise systems. In particular, formal methods and systems methods are crucial for modeling complex enterprise systems, which poses unique challenges. In this paper, we briefly survey the state of the art in the area of enterprise systems as they relate to industrial informatics.

An industry approach to shared, cross-organisational engineering change handling - The road towards standards for product data processing

Standards for cross-enterprise communication between systems that actively manage product data and which control the associated workflows–including release and approval processes–have been in industrial use for some time. Experiences gained during the last decade showed that purely data centric approaches, such as supported by IGES, ISO 10303 (STEP) and IFC are not sufficient. Cross-enterprise communication requires not only agreements about data format and semantics, but also about orderly procedures for efficient communication between the stakeholders in a workflow. This paper presents the background and approach taken for the development of a standard for cross-company engineering change management (ECM), which is currently undertaken as a joint activity between VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry) and ProSTEP iViP (international association for information integration in industry). Based on the results of this joint activity, which was recently published as SASIG ECM Recommendation V2.0 and as VDA 4965 V3.0, ECM Pilot implementations within member companies were conducted. They proved that a lead-time reduction of the engineering change process of 20%–40% is possible while the quality of the process increases. The approach itself should work not only in engineering change or product data environments, but also in document oriented environments as well as in sectors other than automotive. The ECM standard provides specifications of reference business processes, including the definition of the participants’ roles and the interaction and synchronization (“touch”) points where data are communicated. It leverages and builds on other established product data standards wherever possible. Thus, the data model defined by STEP AP214, (Core Data for automotive mechanical design processes) is used to describe the “payload”–i.e. the product data content to be exchanged–at defined synchronization points. OMG’s PLM Services provide the framework for sending messages between the stakeholders of an Engineering Change, and business process modelling languages such as e.g. BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), standardized by OASIS, provide the capability to execute the ECM protocol’s specification. They ensure the ability to use the latest state-of-the-art internet technologies such as XML and web-services.