Introduction of an Architecture for Flexible Future Process Control Systems as Enabler for Industry 4.0

TL;DR

This paper proposes a flexible, reliable architecture for future process control systems to enable Industry 4.0, addressing legacy equipment limitations and supporting smart manufacturing through reconfigurable cyber-physical systems.

Contribution

It introduces a holistic architecture based on the 4+1 model approach for flexible, reliable process control systems in Industry 4.0 environments.

Findings

Initial implementation results demonstrate system flexibility.

Architecture ensures high availability and reliability.

Framework supports integration of legacy equipment.

Abstract

The term Industry 4.0, which refers to the fourth industrial revolution, aims at the digitalization of industries, including all kinds of production assets. With the help of these, so-called industrial cyber-physical systems, which form the industrial Internet of Things, numerous novel use cases that are key enabler for a smart manufacturing, can be realized. However, existing facilities mainly consist of legacy equipment and technologies that do not offer these kind of flexibility. To address this issue, we introduce an architecture that allows a flexible reconfiguration and redeployment of future process control systems. Moreover, a high system availability and reliability, as required by industrial applications, has been taken into account. The architectural design follows the 4+1 model approach as it is available in the literature. This ensures, that the design results in a holistic architecture. Additionally, we provide insights into first results and outline future development steps.