Reference Architecture Model Industrie Research Articles

Identifying Reference Architecture Types for Stakeholder Groups in Industry 4.0

AbstractNew developments in the area of the Industrial Internet‐of‐Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 offer huge potential for a more efficient and flexible industrial production, but are also accompanied by rising system complexity. Consequently, to deal with the increased system complexity, novel approaches, such as reference architectures, are emerging. However, most of these approaches are not yet mature and rather theoretical than ready‐to‐use. Thus, companies need to be provided with frameworks that actively support the transformation of their systems towards Industry 4.0. One of those frameworks has been introduced with Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0), which counteracts the mentioned complexity and can be used for various use cases. However, as most of its concepts are too general to be applied directly to actual systems, the need for directly applicable reference architectures emerges. Therefore, this paper proposes a method to derive more detailed reference architectures based on RAMI 4.0 by making use of model‐based systems engineering (MBSE), which target single manufacturing domains rather than the whole industry. Therefore, relevant stakeholders are analyzed and different types of reference architectures targeting their concerns are identified. The resulting reference architectures should be ready‐to‐use for interested manufacturers and thus, enhance the acceptance of RAMI 4.0 as well as improve systems engineering in industrial manufacturing. Finally, the developed reference architecture is evaluated in a proof‐of‐concept case study of a flexible production system.

IT/OT Integration by Design

AbstractThe four Industry 4.0 design principles information transparency, technical assistance, interconnection and decentralized decisions pose challenges in integrating Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) solutions in industrial systems. These different solutions have conflicting requirements, making interfaces between them problematic for both systems and organizations. An Industrial Business Process Twin (IBPT) entity, acting as an intermediary between the realms of IT and OT, has been proposed in a previous work, to effectively reduce the amount of required IT/OT interfaces in an attempt of overcoming this situation. In this work, we investigate the effects of this approach during the design phase. We argue that, by eliminating potentially conflicting direct interfaces between IT and OT stakeholders within the organizational structure, this approach effectively eliminates conflicting communication channels within the system design. To verify our argument, we develop a model of our IBPT concept according to the Reference Architecture Model Industrie 4.0 (RAMI4.0) using an Industry 4.0 scenario addressing the four essential Industry 4.0 design principles. Results show that the IBPT approach indeed eliminates potentially conflicting IT/OT interfaces during the system design phase.

Design and implementation of a machine log for PBF-LB/M on basis of IoT communication architectures and an ETL pipeline

Powder Bed Fusion with Laser Beam of Metals (PBF-LB/M) has gained more industrial relevance and already demonstrated applications at a small series scale. However, its widespread adoption in various use cases faces challenges due to the absence of interfaces to established Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) that support customers in the predominantly data-driven quality assurance. Current state-of-the-art PBF-LB/M machines utilize communication architectures, such as OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA), Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface (REST API). In the context of the Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) and the Internet of Things (IoT), the assets, particularly the physical PBF-LB/M machines, already have an integration layer implemented to communicate data such as process states or sensor values. Missing is an MES component acting as a communication and information layer. To address this gap, the proposed Extract Transform Load (ETL) pipeline aims to extract relevant data from the fabrication of each build cycle down to the level of scan vectors and additionally to register process signals. The suggested data schema for archiving each build cycle adheres to all terms defined by ISO/TC 261—Additive Manufacturing (AM). In relation to the measurement frequency, all data are reorganized into entities, such as the AM machine, build cycle, part, layer, and scan vector. These scan vectors are stored in a runtime-independent format, including all metadata, to be valid and traceable. The resulting machine log represents a comprehensive documentation of each build cycle, enabling data-driven quality assurance at process level.

Digital Twin of a Water Supply System Using the Asset Administration Shell.

The concept of digital twins is one of the fundamental pillars of Industry 4.0. Digital twin allows the realization of a virtual model of a real system, enhancing the relevant performance (e.g., in terms of production rate, risk prevention, energy saving, and maintenance operation). Current literature presents many contributions pointing out the advantages that may be achieved by the definition of a digital twin of a water supply system. The Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 introduces the concept of the Asset Administration Shell for the digital representation of components within the Industry 4.0 ecosystem. Several proposals are currently available in the literature considering the Asset Administration Shell for the realization of a digital twin of real systems. To the best of the authors' knowledge, at the moment, the adoption of Asset Administration Shell for the digital representation of a water supply system is not present in the current literature. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to present a methodological approach for developing a digital twin of a water supply system using the Asset Administration Shell metamodel. The paper will describe the approach proposed by the author and the relevant model based on Asset Administration Shell, pointing out that its implementation is freely available on the GitHub platform.

Systematic comparison of software agents and Digital Twins: differences, similarities, and synergies in industrial production

AbstractTo achieve a highly agile and flexible production, a transformational shift is envisioned whereby industrial production systems evolve to be more decentralized, interconnected, and intelligent. Within this vision, production assets collaborate with each other, exhibiting a high degree of autonomy. Furthermore, information about individual production assets is accessible throughout their entire life-cycles. To realize this vision, the use of advanced information technology is required. Two commonly applied software paradigms in this context are Software Agents (referred to as Agents) and Digital Twins (DTs). This work presents a systematic comparison of Agents and DTs in industrial applications. The goal of the study is to determine the differences, similarities, and potential synergies between the two paradigms. The comparison is based on the purposes for which Agents and DTs are applied, the properties and capabilities exhibited by these software paradigms, and how they can be allocated within the Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0. The comparison reveals that Agents are commonly employed in the collaborative planning and execution of production processes, while DTs are generally more applied to monitor production resources and process information. Although these observations imply characteristic sets of capabilities and properties for both Agents and DTs, a clear and definitive distinction between the two paradigms cannot be made. Instead, the analysis indicates that production assets utilizing a combination of Agents and DTs would demonstrate high degrees of intelligence, autonomy, sociability, and fidelity. To achieve this, further standardization is required, particularly in the field of DTs.

ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ ЦИФРОВОГО ПРОИЗВОДСТВА ДЕТАЛЕЙ УЗЛОВ МАЛОРАЗМЕРНЫХ ГАЗОТУРБИННЫХ УСТАНОВОК

The article presents the results of organizing the digital production of parts and assemblies of small-sized gas turbine units. A functional structure of information components of digital production of MSTU, a functional model of digital production, a context IDEF0-diagram of the functional model of the process “Digital Production of MSTU” have been developed, context diagrams “Production Management” and “Intelligent Solution” have been constructed, and a structural model of digital production has been presented. Three levels of digital production and their data attributes are presented. A scheme for the formation of production tasks has also been developed with a description of the attributes of these objects of the production system and the attributes of digital production events. The functional model of digital production was carried out in accordance with the standardization recommendations R 50.1.028-2001 Information technologies for supporting the product life cycle “Functional modeling methodology”. To create digital production, GOST R 57700.37–2021 “Computer models and modeling” was used. Digital twins of products. General provisions”, GOST R 59799 – 2021 “Smart production. Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0).”

Industry 4.0-Oriented Turnkey Project: Rapid Configuration and Intelligent Operation of Manufacturing Systems

More extensive personalized product requirements and shorter product life cycles have put forward higher requirements for the rapid establishment, commissioning, and operation of corresponding manufacturing systems. However, the traditional manufacturing system development process is complicated, resulting in a longer delivery time. Many manufacturing enterprises, especially small and micro enterprises, may not have the necessary manufacturing knowledge or capabilities to meet these requirements. Therefore, it is essential to promote the construction of turnkey projects under the paradigm of Industry 4.0, parallelizing and integrating the existing manufacturing system development process based on mass manufacturing equipment to quickly provide turnkey solutions for manufacturing systems’ configuration and implementation for these enterprises. This paper aims to extract and refine the configuration and operation key views of the Industry 4.0-oriented Turnkey Project (I4TP) from Reference Architecture Model Industrie 4.0 (RAMI4.0) and use it to guide the development of key functional processes of turnkey projects to achieve rapid configuration and efficient operation management of manufacturing systems. The turnkey project platform in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (AMTC) is taken as a demonstration case to provide a reference idea for the rapid configuration and intelligent operation of the turnkey manufacturing system.

Towards a domain-specific information architecture enabling the investigation and optimization of flexible production systems by utilizing artificial intelligence

The industrial domain is undergoing a major transformation, pushed forward by emerging technologies originating from research or industry. The resulting trend, better known by the term Industry 4.0, advances automation within these manufacturing companies by providing ubiquitous interconnection. This enables the integration of technologies mainly used in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) or Big Data with the goal to optimize production processes or facilitate intelligent decision-making. While those processes are progressively supported by methodologies coming from the area of artificial intelligence (AI) like machine learning algorithms, sustainable and consistent storing of production data becomes increasingly important. Concluding, production systems engineering and information engineering are correlating with each other, as the respective results could be used to the advantage of the respective other discipline. In order to address these issues while developing such flexible production systems, the Reference Architecture Model Industrie 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) has been introduced. However, practical applications are lacking as this standard is mainly described in theory, which makes it difficult to actually apply this framework. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to specify a detailed architecture description of the Information Layer to ensure the practical application of RAMI 4.0, which allows stakeholders to utilize model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for developing data aspects of industrial systems on the one hand and enable Information Engineering on the other hand. Supported by the concept of the Zachman Framework, the resulting architecture is applied and validated with the help of a real-world case study.

RAMI 4.0 w transformacji cyfrowej przedsiębiorstwa - studium przypadku

The implementation of the HMI (Human-Machine Interface) operator panel on the production line is a new stage of the digital transformation of a paints and varnishes manufacturer in the SMEs sector. As part of an innovation plan, the process of production data acquisition was restructured, by means of IT (Information Technology), into an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. The introduction of an HMI panel made it possible to digitalize data acquisition and operation reporting to the ERP system. The digital transformation of the SME 4.0 company was modelled on the Industry 4.0 trend solutions. The specialized model, developed according to RAMI 4.0 (Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0), effected change of a partial and local nature in the enterprise. The data is now entered directly into the production area by the employees on the technological line, once they have logged in to the ERP system. Access to digital production data obtained from a SSOT (single source of truth) benefited all those who used the ERP system. A postimplementation analysis of a two-year application of the restructured data acquisition process indicates the business areas which profit from digital operational data acquisition and higher quality production reporting.

Constructing a Real-Time Value-Chain Integration Architecture for Mass Individualized Juice Production

Mass individualized production refers to the mass production of individualized products. It becomes important for delivering a personalized customer experience in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era. Developing seamless value chain integration between enterprises to achieve mass individualized production is challenging. Based on Reference Architecture Model Industrie 4.0 (RAMI 4.0), this paper aims to address two major challenges, which are asset modeling and integration, and data communication and brokering in a value chain data exchange ecosystem. This paper proposes a communication architecture that enables both vertical and horizontal value-chain integration. A proof-of-concept is built, which involves two stakeholders. The first is the individualized juice online ordering system, named PEC, and the second is a highly automated individualized mixed juice production manufacturing line, named OMIS. Three different tests are conducted in the experiments. The first is to test the creation of assets wrapped in the asset administration shell. The second is to test the connectivity between the Asset Brokering Manager (ABM) Connector and the ABM Portal. Last is to test the connectivity performance between two Asset Administration Systems. As a result, the experiments successfully created the asset instance data accurately, and the data were published in the ABM Portal for subscription by PEC and OMIS. The connectivity tests from OMIS to PEC, and vice versa, were successful, with the time taken of 114 and 121 ms, respectively.

Past, present, and future research of digital twin for smart manufacturing

ABSTRACT In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a growing focus on digital twin (DT) in order to advance toward smart manufacturing. Thus, researchers have conducted numerous studies on DT and extensively developed related technologies. There are many studies that apply and analyse DT to actual manufacturing sites for the realization of a smart factory, but it is necessary to clearly consider which part of DT is applied and what function it performs in manufacturing. As such, this study analysed and classified prior literature based on various phases of product lifecycle management, an application field of DT in manufacturing, and the hierarchy level axis of Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0, the target scope of DT. Accordingly, this study identified research trends in the past and present as well as analysed and identified the major functions of DT (prototyping, pilot testing, monitoring, improvement, and control). Through a gab study on the inadequate aspects of past and present researches, this study proposes directions for future studies on DT and a system architecture that can perform all the functions of DT.

Data and optimization model of an industrial heat transfer station to increase energy flexibility

Nations and companies are forced to reduce CO2 emissions and decelerate global warming. In this development, the transition of the heating sector is still in its infancy despite the relatively large share of thermal energy in the total energy consumption. Industrial companies can contribute significantly to reduce CO2 emissions by using waste heat through connecting their industrial energy supply system (IESS) to a district heating system (DHS). This paper focuses on emission reduction potential of an (industrial) heat transfer station (HTS) regarding energy flexibility and sector coupling required for the successful integration of industrial waste heat. To optimize the operating behaviour of the HTS, a data and optimization model is integrated into a digital twin (DT) based on reference architecture model for industry 4.0 (RAMI4.0). Within the DT, the information, functional and business layer are modeled. The effects of operating the HTS supported by central modules of the DT are evaluated on one year’s data of an IESS of a real industrial site. The results show a potential operating cost reduction by 6 % for the IESS and increases in profits of 1.3 % for the DHS. Scope 2 emissions can be reduced by 25 % for the IESS and 180 % for the DHS respectively, strongly depending on emission factors and allocation methods.

Engineering human-focused Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems in Industry 4.0 context.

The world is increasingly interconnected, and this can also be seen in industry, where an ecosystem of digitalized assets, and humans with appropriate digital interfaces, constantly interact with each other. Digital transformation efforts in the industry rely on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems that are driven by service-based cooperation among humans and digitalized industrial assets. This implies a radical paradigm change in their engineering and operation, which is focused on the symbiosis of digitalized assets and humans that cohabit a collaboration-driven industrial ecosystem. This work discusses how a digital transformation can effectively be achieved in an industrial ecosystem via a digitalization process performed along the three dimensions of the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0, facilitated by the specification, development and implementation of an Asset Administration Shell. The discussion focus is put on humans and how the digitally transformed industrial environments empower her/his capabilities and interactions. It is also critically pointed out how one should go beyond technology and consider additional aspects. Therefore, it is argued that human-centred efforts in Industry 4.0 (I4.0) should be seen in the larger context of sustainability and circular economy in order to properly consider the interplay of the involved socio-technical dimensions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Towards symbiotic autonomous systems'.

Development of Industry 4.0 predictive maintenance architecture for broadcasting chain

Industry 4.0 Predictive Maintenance (PdM 4.0) architecture in the broadcasting chain is one of the taxonomy challenges for deploying Industry 4.0 frameworks. This paper proposes a novel PdM framework based on advanced Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) to reduce operation and maintenance costs. This framework includes real-time production monitoring, business processes, and integration based on Design Science Research (DSR) to generate an innovative Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) meta-model. The addressed model visualizes sub-processes based on experts' and stakeholders' knowledge to reduce the cost of maintenance of audiovisual services including satellite TV, cable TV, and live audio and video broadcast services. Based on the recommendation and the concept of Industry 4.0, the proposed framework tolerates the predictable failures and further concerns in similar related industries. Some empirical experiments have been conducted by using the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s (IRIB) high-power station (located near the capital city of Iran, Tehran) to evaluate the functionality and efficiency of the proposed predictive maintenance framework. Practical outcomes demonstrate that interval times between data collection should be increased in audio and video broadcasting predictive maintenance because of the limitation of the internal processing performance of equipment. The framework also indicates the role of the Frequency Modulation (FM) transmitters’ data clearance to reduce the instability and untrustworthy data during data mining. The proposed DSR method endorses using a customized RAMI 4.0 meta-model framework to adapt distributed broadcasting and communication with PdM 4.0, which increases the stability as well as decreasing maintenance costs of the broadcasting chain in comparison to state-of-the-art methodologies. Furthermore, it is shown that the proposed framework outperforms the best-evaluated methods in terms of acceptance.

Open Source Control Device for Industry 4.0 Based on RAMI 4.0

The technical innovation of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0—I4.0) is based on the following respective conditions: horizontal and vertical integration of manufacturing systems, decentralization of computing resources and continuous digital engineering throughout the product life cycle. The reference architecture model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) is a common model for systematizing, structuring and mapping the complex relationships and functionalities required in I4.0 applications. Despite its adoption in I4.0 projects, RAMI 4.0 is an abstract model, not an implementation guide, which hinders its current adoption and full deployment. As a result, many papers have recently studied the interactions required among the elements distributed along the three axes of RAMI 4.0 to develop a solution compatible with the model. This paper investigates RAMI 4.0 and describes our proposal for the development of an open-source control device for I4.0 applications. The control device is one of the elements in the hierarchy-level axis of RAMI 4.0. Its main contribution is the integration of open-source solutions of hardware, software, communication and programming, covering the relationships among three layers of RAMI 4.0 (assets, integration and communication). The implementation of a proof of concept of the control device is discussed. Experiments in an I4.0 scenario were used to validate the operation of the control device and demonstrated its effectiveness and robustness without interruption, failure or communication problems during the experiments.

An information architecture to enable track-and-trace capability in Physical Internet ports

The Physical Internet (PI), a new vision for the future of the global freight transport and logistics system, describes a geographical hierarchy of interconnected networks of networks, from the urban, to the national, the continental, and the global level. Like today, in PI the maritime ports will fulfil roles as continental and global hubs. Differently than ports today, however, decisions to split and bundle cargo across ships and other modes will not be made solely on the basis of long-term agreements by ports, but rather ever more dynamically and in real-time, aiming to reconsolidate shipments within the port area. This implies a need to reconsider the currently used information systems (ISs), and to gain understanding of future requirements to satisfy their needs. We exploit a design science research (DSR) approach to shape these requirements. Among the many components of future ISs, we study ports’ track-and-trace (T&T) capability. The proposed information architecture (IA) enables to integrate T&T capability in PI ports by means of information carried on PI containers into the logistics chain via an open interface platform, which also supports interoperability among the various actors’ ISs. The design is based on the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0). This model supports the analysis of PI ports in key dimensions along with hierarchical logistics entities, which could be used as a blueprint for IAs of PI ports, globally. We provide insights into the approach’s applicability by means of the illustrative case of Teesport, located in Northeast England (United Kingdom).

Towards a Domain-Specific Approach Enabling Tool-Supported Model-Based Systems Engineering of Complex Industrial Internet-of-Things Applications

Contemporary manufacturing systems are undergoing a major change promoted by emerging technologies such as Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) or the Internet of Things (IoT). This trend, nowadays widely known by the term “Industry 4.0”, leads to a new kind of automated production. However, the rising number of dynamically interconnected elements in industrial production lines results in such a system being transformed into a complex System of Systems (SoS). Due to the increasing complexity and the challenges accompanied by this change, conventional engineering methods using generic principles reach their limits when developing this type of systems. With varying approaches only trying to find a solution for small-scaled areas of this problem statement, the need for a holistic methodology becomes more and more obvious. Having recognized this issue, one of the most promising approaches has been introduced with the Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0). However, in the current point of view, this domain-specific architecture framework is missing specifications to address all aspects of such a critical infrastructure. Thus, this paper introduces a comprehensive modeling approach utilizing methods applied in Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and including domain-specific particularities as well as architectural concepts with the goal to enable mutual engineering of current and future industrial systems. The resulting artifacts, a domain-specific language (DSL), an architecture definition and a development process, are thereby consolidated in a ready to use software framework, whose applicability was evaluated by a real-world case study.

Generic Digital Twin Architecture for Industrial Energy Systems

Digital Twins have been in the focus of research in recent years, trying to achieve the vision of Industry 4.0. In the domain of industrial energy systems, they are applied to facilitate a flexible and optimized operation. With the help of Digital Twins, the industry can participate even stronger in the ongoing renewable energy transition. Current Digital Twin implementations are often application-specific solutions without general architectural concepts and their structures and namings differ, although the basic concepts are quite similar. For this reason, we analyzed concepts, architectures, and frameworks for Digital Twins in the literature to develop a technology-independent Generic Digital Twin Architecture (GDTA), which is aligned with the information technology layers of the Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI4.0). This alignment facilitates a common naming and understanding of the proposed architectural structure. A proof-of-concept shows the application of Semantic Web technologies for instantiating the proposed GDTA for a use case of a Packed-Bed Thermal Energy Storage (PBTES).

Enterprise Architecture Concept for Digital Manufacturing

The purpose of the research is to study and analyze the impact of technologies of Industry 4.0 on the development of manufacturing companies and its effect of enterprise architecture within the companies. The justification of the necessity or making changes in enterprise architecture with the implementation of the technologies of Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing processes of the company is given. The Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 as well as Service-Oriented Architecture are analyzed as proper frameworks for manufacturing industry digital transformation. The results obtained in this work can be used by companies in order to create for themselves plans for development of manufacturing processes in order to reach higher level of development of the Industry 4.0.

Toward a Reference Architecture Model for Industrial Edge Computing

In the context of the digital transformation of the industry, whole value chains get connected across various application domains as long as economic, ecological, or social benefits arise to do so. Under the umbrella of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), traditional operational technology (OT) approaches are replaced or at least augmented by information and communication technology (ICT) systems to facilitate this development. To meet industrial requirements, for example, related to privacy, determinism, latency, or autonomy, established cloud computing mechanisms are being moved closer to data sources and actuators. Depending on the context, this distributed cloud computing paradigm is named edge computing or fog computing, and various challenges have been subject to several publications. However, a proper reference model that describes the multi-dimensional problem space, which is being spanned by this paradigm, seems still to be undefined. Such a model should provide orientation, put work in relation, and support the identification of current and future research issues. This article aims to fill this gap with a focus on industrial automation and follows analog models that have been developed for specific domains such as the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM) and the Reference Architecture Model Industrie 4.0 (RAMI4.0). The proposed Reference Architecture Model Edge Computing (RAMEC) identifies 210 views on the edge computing paradigm in the manufacturing domain. Future iterations of this model might be used for the classification of relevant research, standardization, and development activities.