IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is the authority that publishes different standards in the  fields  of  electrical  and  electronics  engineering,  to  be  used  internationally.  In  the  area  of manufacturing, it has demanded a new standard to fulfil better solutions of dynamic requirements. The  IEC  61499  redacted  by  IEC  offers  interoperability,  portability,  configurability  and  distributed control applications for manufacturing processes. However, this standard is not a replacement of IEC 61131-3,  one  of  the  most  used  standards  in  industry;  instead,  it  is  a  complement  of  it.  The  basic software units of IEC 61499 are named Function Blocks (FBs), which can be described as blocks that encapsulate functionality. By combining FBs together, it is possible to solve complex problems.   The  objective  of  this  project  (in  close  cooperation  with  another  project)  is  to  develop  a  software environment in Java language. It follows the requirements of IEC 61499, and implement a Function Block  designer  and  a  runtime  execution  environment,  as  a  part  of  an  existing  Wise-ShopFloor framework. The scope of this project covers:     FB  algorithm  editor:  Each  FB  has  one  or  more  algorithms,  which  can  be  defined  in  the algorithm editor using IEC 61131-3 or Java.     FB serialization: Opening and saving the configuration of FBs in Java Class file is one of the tasks  of  this  project.  As  soon  as  the  configuration  is  saved,  the  Java  code  of  FB  can  be generated. Java code is generated because compiled Java allows execution of FB. Saving in Java  Class  file  permits  portability,  i.e.  the  saved  configuration  can  be  opened  in  any  JVM system, and vice versa.      Case study: A simulation of an assembly station using an ABB IRB 140 robot is studied and implemented using the runtime simulator of the Java platform, in which some basic FBs have been also created in a library. This project also includes: (1) implementation of user interface and (2) FB serialization in XML. It  is  anticipated  that  the  developed  environment  will  be  able  to  save  and  open  FBs  configurations either in XML or in Java Class, following the specification of IEC 61499. It will allow portability and reusability.  Because  of  the  portability,  the  so-designed  FBs  can  be  validated  using  another  FB environment such as FBDK (Function Block Development Kit).

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Automação). Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 2011

Η Real time Specification of Java (RTSJ) ξεπερνάει τους περιορισμούς της Java που την κρίνουν ακατάλληλη για την ανάπτυξη συστημάτων πραγματικού χρόνου. H Real Time Java έχει ήδη χρησιμοποιηθεί στην ανάπτυξη βιομηχανικών συστημάτων ελέγχου με θετικά αποτελέσματα. Ωστόσο, η ευρεία χρήση στην ανάπτυξη εφαρμογών του πεδίου αυτού περιορίζεται σημαντικά από το γεγονός ότι οι μηχανικοί συστημάτων ελέγχου δεν είναι εξοικοιωμένοι με τις σύγχρονες τεχνολογίες ανάπτυξης λογισμικού. Το IEC61499 RTSJ-Based Framework, το οποίο παρουσιάζεται και επεκτείνεται στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία αξιοποιεί το νέο IEC61499 πρότυπο, το οποίο είναι βασισμένο στην έννοια του Function Block. Το framework αυτό επιτρέπει στον μηχανικό συστημάτων ελέγχου να δουλέψει στο επίπεδο σχεδίασης χρησιμοποιώντας την ευρέως διαδεδομένη έννοια του FB, εκμεταλλευόμενος το αυτόματα παραγόμενο Real time Java μοντέλο υλοποίησης του συστήματος. Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία αρχικά παρουσιάζονται οι επεκτάσεις που προσφέρει το RTSJ στην standard Java ώστε να μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί σε εφαρμογές πραγματικού χρόνου. Στην συνέχεια παρουσιάζεται το IEC61499 RTSJ-Based Framework και οι επεκτάσεις που έγιναν σε αυτό, ώστε να μπορεί να υποστηριχθεί η ανάπτυξη κατανεμημένων εφαρμογών. Ακολουθεί η ανάλυση της απόδοσης του περιβάλλοντος εκτέλεσης του framework και η περίπτωση χρήσης ενός συστήματος γραμμής παραγωγής, του Festo MPS. / The Real Time Specification of Java (RTSJ) addresses successfully the limitations of Java that make it inappropriate for the development of real time applications.Many positive experiences of using Real Time Java in the control and automation domain have already been reported so far.In spite of the many positive results, the wide use of Java in control and automation domain is prohibited due to the fact that the control engineers are not familiar with current software engineering technologies. The IEC61499 RTSJ-Based Framework, that is presented and extended in the context of this thesis exploits the new IEC61499 standard that is based on the Function Block(FB) concept.This framework allows the control engineer to work in the design level using the already widely accepted concept of FB and transparently use real-time Java for the implementation model of the system. In this thesis the extensions that the RTSJ provides to standard Java are initially presented.Next, the IEC61499 RTSJ-Based Framework is presented as well as the extensions that were added in the context of this thesis in order to support the development of distributed applications.In addition, the performance analysis of the framework's run-time environment is presented as well as the case study of a modular production system the Festo MPS

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leandro Israel Pinto.pdf: 1973331 bytes, checksum: 859388e323baf2b51cb58d1386fe1ceb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The IEC 61499 standard defines a development model for industrial automation and control, it defines a visual language that can facilitate the implementation of distributed control system. This work presents the proposal and implementation of ICARU-FB, an Open Source multi-platform environment, capable of running the function blocks defined in IEC 61499 on architectures with few computational resources. A virtual machine was designed and implemented to perform networks of function blocks on 8-bit platforms with minimal resources. It was also ported to run on a 64-bit computer. Two case studies were performed in order to verify compliance with IEC 61499. Through the case studies, it was verified that it is possible to meet the requirements of the standard, such as configurability, interoperability and portability. The case studies also demonstrated the ability of the environment to reconfigure the software at runtime. / A norma IEC 61499 define um modelo de desenvolvimento para automação e controle industrial, ela estabelece uma linguagem visual que pode facilitar a implementação de sistemas de controle distribuídos. Esse trabalho apresenta a proposta e implementação do ICARU-FB, um ambiente Open Source multiplataforma, que é capaz de executar a linguagem definida na norma IEC 61499 em arquiteturas com poucos recursos computacionais. Uma maquina virtual foi projetada e implementada para executar redes blocos de funções em plataformas de 8 bits com o mínimo de recursos. Ela também foi portada para executar em um computador de 64 bits. Dois estudos de caso foram realizados a fim de verificar a conformidade com a norma IEC 61499. Através desses estudos de caso, foi verificado que é possível atender aos requisitos da norma IEC 61499, como configurabilidade, interoperabilidade e portabilidade. Os estudos de caso também demonstraram a habilidade do ambiente de reconfigurar o software em tempo de execução.

Today’s   market   is   subjected   to   numerous   changes   due   to   the   need   of   continuous improvement  of  different  commercial  brands  in  order  to  survive  against  competitors.  This competition  drives  the  evolution  of  industrial  processes,  to  satisfy  the  high  customers’ requirements. It means that factors such as flexibility, adaptability and agility are crucial for the  successful  development  of  industries,  which  experience  some  degrees  of  uncertainty due  to  machine  breakdowns,  delays  and  market  fluctuations  among  others.  The  current trend  in  manufacturing  industries  consists  in  the  implementation  of  distributed  control systems (DCS), substituting the earlier programmable logic controllers (PLC) systems where a main  processor  operated  as  the  central  unit  of  the  system.  To  this  end,  the  application  of function  blocks  (FB)  compliant  with  the  IEC  61499  standard  represents  an  innovative technique  for  dealing  with  the  design  and  programming  of  DCSs.  These  FBs  enable  the creation  of  event-driven  networks  governed  by  embedded  algorithms  that  can  be  used  to enhance  the  flexibility  and  portability  of  industrial  job-shops  based  on  a  distributed architecture.  Job-shop  floors  represent  a  principal  concept  in  manufacturing  industries.  This  project  is focused on the integration of a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine and a gantry robot  which  must  be  coordinated  and  cooperate  for  the  achievement  of  an  industrial machining  and  assembly  process.  It  implies  the  design  of  a  PLC-managed  distributed  cell using  nxtControl  software.  This  software  facilitates  the  construction  of  FBs-networks  to control both machines and enables the communication process via service interface function blocks (SI-FB). Likewise, the whole process will be monitored using an interface also created within nxtControl which will allow the operator to decide the batch and characteristics of the production.  This project is also intended to set the basis for the understanding of the FB concept defined in  IEC  61499  which  moves  away  from  earlier  scan-based  systems  to  event-driven  models, aiming to contribute to the development of future research in the function blocks area.

Standards are, nowadays, a useful and sometimes essential tool, in the world of automated industry. Since the development of the standard IEC 61131-3, automation has made progresses in a consistent manner. This allows an engineer to develop control programs for any type of systems using the language set in the standard. However, this standard was not enough because it did not cover the control over distributed systems. Therefore, it was necessary to establish rules in this field. In order to fill this gap, the new standard IEC 61499 was developed. Its main objective is to describe how to develop, design and implement distributed control systems, using the new concept of function blocks. By the use of the new function blocks, it is possible to control distributed systems in a quick and easy way, adding some advantages such as reusability, portability, and much enhanced maintenance.This project involves the preparation of a manufacturing cell composed of a gantry robot interacting with a CNC machine. The project is developed in two sections; one is focused on the computer programming with function blocks for the gantry robot and HMI, and the other is prepared for the programming of function blocks for the CNC machine and HMI. The communications between PLC, PC, gantry robot and CNC machine are developed using the standard IEC 61499. This document covers the survey and research made for the first section of the project.The new standard IEC 61499 provides the methodologies and the appropriated tools to achieve a good control in distributed systems. The basic tools offered by this standard are the new function blocks which will be the main tool used in this project. Equally important, it is necessary to take into account the different assembly features and the machining features in order to design better function blocks to control the system. An HMI has to be developed in order to obtain a good interface for a worker of this cell.The aim of this project is to investigate how the new standard IEC 61499 works in a real manufacturing cell and how the new function blocks interact in a real distributed system. Moreover, it is important to see how the event flow works, controlling all the sequences required in the manufacturing cell.

Στόχος της εργασίας αυτής είναι η αξιοποίηση της τεχνολογίας συνιστωσών στην ανάπτυξη κατανεμημένων συστημάτων αυτοματισμού και ελέγχου. Την τελευταία δεκαετία γίνεται μια μεγάλη προσπάθεια να αναπτυχθούν νέες τεχνολογίες λογισμικού για την υποστήριξη ανάπτυξης εφαρμογών για κατανεμημένα ετερογενή συστήματα. Αιχμή της τεχνολογίας σήμερα στην κατεύθυνση αυτή αποτελούν τα μοντέλα συνιστωσών. Ειδικότερα στον τομέα των βιομηχανικών εφαρμογών μετρήσεων και ελέγχου η ανάγκη αυτή γίνεται επιτακτική ώστε το λογισμικό που θα παράγεται γι αυτές να είναι αποτελεσματικό και επεκτάσιμο. Στην εργασία αυτή ξεκινάμε την μελέτη μας με το μοντέλο DOC middleware και προχωρούμε στην επέκτασή του, το component middleware. Εξετάζουμε τους περιορισμούς που παρουσιάζει το μοντέλο DOC middleware και τα προτερήματα του component middleware. Στη συνέχεια παρουσιάζουμε εκτενώς το μοντέλου συνιστωσών CORBA. Για το μοντέλο αυτό παρουσιάζουμε το OpenCCM που αποτελεί την μοναδική υλοποίηση που υπάρχει σήμερα η οποία είναι βασισμένη στη γλώσσα Java. Ακολούθως παρουσιάζουμε εκτενώς το πρότυπο για την ανάπτυξη βιομηχανικών εφαρμογών IEC-61499 που στηρίζεται στη έννοια του Function Block. Στη συνέχεια περιγράφουμε τη λύση που προτείνουμε στα πλαίσια της εργασίας αυτής για την υλοποίηση του προτύπου IEC-61499, η οποία στηρίζεται στο μοντέλο συνιστωσών CORBA. Η λύση μας χρησιμοποιεί την Java ως γλώσσα προγραμματισμού και ως πλατφόρμα ανάπτυξης το CORFU από την πλευρά των Function Block και το Cadena από την πλευρά συνιστωσών CORBA. Προχωρούμε στην παρουσίαση του εργαλείου FBtoCCMtool το οποίο αυτοματοποιεί ένα μεγάλο μέρος της διαδικασίας μετασχηματισμού από το μοντέλο FBs στο μοντέλο συνιστωσών CORBA . Τελικά περιγράφουμε την εφαρμογή της προτεινόμενης λύσης πάνω σε ένα πρότυπο σύστημα βιομηχανικής διεργασίας, το FESTO Modular Processing System της εταιρίας FESTO. / -

Thesis (DTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / Majority of the industrial systems encountered are significantly non-linear in nature, so if they are synthesised and designed by linear methods, then some of salient features characterising of their performance may not be captured. Therefore designing a control system that captures the nonlinearities is important. This research focuses on the control design strategies for the Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) process. To control such a process a careful design strategy is required because of the nonlinearities, loop interaction and the potentially unstable dynamics characterizing the system. In these systems, linear control methods alone may not perform satisfactorily. Three different control design strategies (Dynamic decoupling, Decentralized and Input-output feedback linearization controller) are proposed and implemented .in the Matlab/Simulink platform and the developed strategies are then deployed to the design of distributed automation control system configuration using the IEC 61499 standard based functional block programming language. Twin CAT 3.1 system real-time and Matlab/Simulink (www.mathworks.com) environment are used to test the effectiveness of the models The simulation results from the investigation done between Simulink and TwinCAT 3 software (Beckhoff Automation) platforms in the case of the model transformation and closed loop simulation of the process for the considered cases have shown the suitability and the potentials of merging the Matlab/Simulink control function blocks into the TwinCAT 3.1 function blocks in real-time. The merits derived from such integration imply that the existing software and software components can be re-used. This is in line with one of the IEC 6144 standard requirements such as portability and interoperability. Similarly, the simplification of programming applications is greatly achieved. The investigation has also shown that the integration the of Matlab/Simulink models running in the TwinCAT 3.1 PLC do not need any modification, hence confirming that the TwinCAT 3.1 development platform can be used for the design and implementation of controllers from different platforms. Also, based on the steps required for model transformation the between the Matlab/Simulink to the TwinCAT 3 functional blocks, the algorithms of the control design methodologies developed, simulation results are used to verify the suitability of the controls to find whether the effective set-point tracking control and disturbance effect minimisation for the output variables can be achieved in real-time using the transformed Simulink blocks to the TwinCAT 3 functional blocks, then downloaded to the Beckhoff CX5020 PLC for real-time execution. Good set-point tracking control is achieved for the MIMO closed loop nonlinear CSTR process for the considered cases of the developed control methodologies. Similarly, the effects of disturbances are investigated. TwinCAT functional modules achieved good set-point tracking with these disturbances minimization under all the cases considered.

Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à la validation temporelle ainsi qu'au déploiement d'applications de contrôle industriel à base de composants. La technologie des composants retenue est celle des Blocs Fonctionnels définie dans la norme industrielle IEC 61499. Un Bloc Fonctionnel est défini comme un composant réactif supportant des fonctionnalités d'une application. L'avantage de cette norme, connue dans l'industrie, est la description statique de l'application ainsi que de son support d'exécution. Une première contribution de la thèse est l'interprétation des différents concepts définis dans la norme. Nous précisons, en particulier, la dynamique du composant en vue de décrire un comportement déterministe de l'application. Pour appliquer une validation temporelle exhaustive, nous proposons un modèle de comportement d'un Bloc Fonctionnel à l'aide du formalisme des automates temporisés. D'autre part, nous fournissons une sémantique au concept de réseau de Blocs Fonctionnels pour décrire une application comme une composition de Blocs. Une deuxième contribution de la thèse est le déploiement de tels réseaux sur une architecture distribuée multi-tâches tout en respectant des propriétés sur les temps de réponse de bout en bout. Nous transformons un réseau de Blocs Fonctionnels vers un ensemble de tâches élémentaires dépendantes, appelées actions. Cette transformation permet l'exploitation de résultats d'ordonnancement pour valider la correction temporelle de l'application. Pour déployer les blocs d'une application, nous proposons une approche hybride alliant un ordonnancement statique non-préemptif et un autre ordonnancement en ligne préemptif. L'ordonnancement statique permet la construction des tâches s'exécutant sur chaque calculateur. Ces tâches sont vues comme des séquencements statiques d'actions. Elles sont alors à ordonnancer dynamiquement selon une politique préemptive reposant sur EDF (Earliest Deadline First). Grâce à cette approche, nous réduisons le nombre de commutation de contexte en regroupant les actions au sein des tâches. De plus l'ordonnancement dynamique préemptif augmente la faisabilité du système. Enfin, une dernière contribution est une extension de la deuxième. Nous proposons une approche d'allocation de réseaux de blocs fonctionnels sur un support d'exécution distribué. Cette allocation, basée sur une heuristique de Liste, se repose sur la méthode hybride pour assurer un déploiement faisable de l'application. Le problème d'allocation est de trouver pour chaque bloc fonctionnel le calculateur capable de l'exécuter tout en respectant des contraintes fonctionnelles, temporelles et de support d'exécution. Notons enfin que l'heuristique proposée se base sur une technique de retour-arrière pour augmenter l'espace de solutions. / This thesis deals with the temporal validation and the deployment of component-based industrial control applications. We are interested in the Function Blocks approach, defined in the IEC 61499 standard, as a well known component based technology in the industry. A Function Block is an event triggered component owning data to support the application functionalities. The advantage of this technology is the taking into account of the application and also its execution support. The first thesis contribution deals with the interpretation of the different concepts defined in the standard. In particular, we propose a policy defining a deterministic behavior of a FB. To apply an exhaustive temporal validation of the application, we propose a behavioral model of a Block as Timed Automata. On the other hand, we propose a semantic for the concept of FBs networks to develop industrial control applications. The second thesis contribution deals with the deployment of FBs networks in a distributed multi-tasking architecture. Such deployment has to respect classical End to End Response Time Bounds as temporal constraints. To validate the temporal behavior of an application, we propose an approach transforming its blocks into an actions system with precedence constraints. The purpose is to exploit previous theories on the scheduling of real-time systems. To deploy FBs networks in feasible OS tasks, we propose a Hybrid scheduling approach combining an off-line non-preemptive scheduling and an on-line preemptive one. The off-line scheduling allows to construct OS tasks from FBs, whereas the on-line one allows to schedule these tasks according to the classical EDF policy. A constructed OS task is an actions sequence defining an execution scenario of the application. Thanks to this approach, we reduce the context switching at run-time by merging application actions in OS tasks. In addition, the system feasibility is increased by applying an on-line preemptive policy. Finally, the last thesis contribution is an extension of the previous one. We propose an approach allocating FBs networks in a distributed architecture. Based on a heuristic, such approach uses the hybrid method to construct feasible OS tasks in calculators. The allocation problem of a particular application FB is to look for a corresponding calculator while respecting functional, temporal and execution support constraints. We note that the proposed heuristic is based on a back-tracking technic to increase the solutions space.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis evaluates control strategies for reconfigurable manufacturing systems by using a welding assembly cell as a case study. The cell consists of a pallet magazine, conveyor, feeder subsystem (comprising an articulated robot and singulation unit), welder subsystem (which uses a modular Cartesian robot), and inspection and removal subsystems. The research focuses on control strategies that enhance reconfigurability in terms of structure, hardware and software using agent-based control and the IEC 61499 standard, based on PC control. Reconfiguration may occur when a new product is introduced, as well as when a new subsystem is introduced or removed from the production cell. The overall control architecture is that the subsystems retain no knowledge of the product, but product information resides in the cell controller, while services offered by the subsystems are registered with the directory facilitator of the Java agent platform. The control strategies are implemented on the modular Cartesian weld robot and the cell controller for assembly cell. A layered architecture with low-level control and high-level control is used to allow separation of concerns and rapid changes in both hardware and software components. The low-level control responds in hard real-time to internal and external events, while the high-level control handles soft real-time actions involving coordination of control related issues. The results showed IEC 61499 function blocks to be better suited to low-level control application in distributed systems, while agents are more suited for high-level control. Modularity in software components enhances hardware and software scalability. Additionally, agents can support online reconfiguration of reconfigurable machines. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tesis evalueer beheerstrategieë vir herkonfigureerbare vervaardigingstelsels deur gebruik te maak van ’n sweismonteersel as ’n gevallestudie. Die sel bestaan uit ’n palletmagasyn, vervoerbande, voersubstelsel (bestaande uit ’n geartikuleerde robot en singulasie-eenheid), sweissubstelsel (wat gebruik maak van ’n modulêre Cartesiese robot), en inspeksie- en verwyderingsubstelsels. Die navorsing fokus op beheerstrategieë wat herkonfigureerbaarheid verhoog in terme van struktuur, hardeware en sagteware met behulp van agent-gebaseerde beheer en die IEC 61499 standaard, wat gebaseer is op PC-beheer. Herkonfigurasie mag voorkom wanneer ’n nuwe produk in-gestel word, sowel as wanneeer ’n nuwe substelsel bygevoeg of verwyder word van die produksiesel. Die oorhoofse beheerargitektuur is dat die substelsels geen kennis van die produk hou nie, maar die produkinligting in die selbeheerder geberg, terwyl dienste wat aangebied word deur die substelsels wat geregistreer is by die gidsfasiliteerder van die Java agent platform. Die beheerstrategië is geïmplementeer op die modulere Cartesiese sweisrobot en die selbeheerder vir die monteersel. ’n Gelaagde argitektuur met ’n lae-vlak beheer en hoë-vlak beheer word gebruik om skeiding van oorwegings en vinnige veranderinge in beide hardeware en sagteware komponente toe te laat. Die lae-vlak beheer reageer hard intyds op interne en eksterne gebeure, terwyl die hoë-vlak beheer sag intyds die koördinering van beheerverwante kwessies hanteer. Die resultate het getoon dat IEC 61499 funksie-blokke beter geskik is vir lae-vlak beheer toepassing in verspreide stelsels, terwyl agente meer geskik is vir hoë-vlak beheer. Modulariteit in sagteware komponente verhoog hardeware en sagteware skaleerbaarheid. Boonop kan agente ook aanlyn herkonfigurasie van herkonfigureerbare masjiene ondersteun.