Model-Based Engineering of CPPS Functions and Code Generation for Skills
This addresses the problem for manufacturing companies needing to adapt production to changing demands with minimal effort, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing model-based and skill-based engineering methods.
The paper tackles the challenge of engineering flexible cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) by proposing a model-based approach focused on machine functions, which are implemented as skills using automated code-generation to enable easier reconfiguration under changing conditions.
Today's production systems are complex networks of cyber-physical systems which combine mechanical and electronic parts with software and networking capabilities. To the inherent complexity of such systems additional complexity arises from the context in which these systems operate. Manufacturing companies need to be able to adapt their production to ever changing customer demands as well as decreasing lot sizes. Engineering such systems, which need to be combined and reconfigured into different networks under changing conditions, requires engineering methods to carefully design them for possible future uses. Such engineering methods need to preserve the flexibility of functions into runtime, so that reconfiguring machines can be done with as little effort as possible. In this paper we present a model-based approach that is focused on machine functions and allows to methodically develop system functionalities for changing system networks. These functions are implemented as so-called skills using automated code-generation.