Nasser Jazdi

Abstract

Vacuum handling systems are widely used in production systems. Most of the systems key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant for industry 4.0 use cases can be derived from its vacuum level characteristics. Vacuum suction cups are key components of vacuum gripping systems and have a significant influence on the system behavior. For modelling suction cups, mainly constant volume chambers are currently used. However, these do not represent the suction cups dynamic behavior exactly enough. Therefore, a novel model is presented allowing the vacuum curve simulation mainly based on the force-displacement characteristic curve. The presented model is validated in an industrially relevant scenario.

Abstract

In many application domains data from different sources are increasingly available to thoroughly monitor and describe a system or device. Especially within the industrial automation domain, heterogeneous data and its analysis gain a lot of attention from research and industry, since it has the potential to improve or enable tasks like diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and condition monitoring. For data analysis, machine learning based approaches are mostly used in recent literature, as these algorithms allow us to learn complex correlations within the data. To analyze even heterogeneous data and gain benefits from it in an application, data from different sources need to be integrated, stored, and managed to apply machine learning algorithms. In a setting with heterogeneous data sources, the analysis algorithms should also be able to handle data source failures or newly added data sources. In addition, existing knowledge should be used to improve the machine learning based analysis or its training process. To find existing approaches for the machine learning based analysis of heterogeneous data in the industrial automation domain, this paper presents the result of a systematic literature review. The publications were reviewed, evaluated, and discussed concerning five requirements that are derived in this paper. We identified promising solutions and approaches and outlined open research challenges, which are not yet covered sufficiently in the literature.

Abstract

Vacuum handling systems are widely used in production systems. Most of the systems key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant for industry 4.0 use cases can be derived from its vacuum level characteristics. Vacuum suction cups are key components of vacuum gripping systems and have a significant influence on the system behavior. For modelling suction cups, mainly constant volume chambers are currently used. However, these do not represent the suction cups dynamic behavior exactly enough. Therefore, a novel model is presented allowing the vacuum curve simulation mainly based on the force-displacement characteristic curve. The presented model is validated in an industrially relevant scenario.

Abstract

With the increasing amount of available and connected data sources, industrial automation applications such as condition monitoring of a production machine can be improved by considering various data. To gain insights from this data and make it useable, heterogeneous data has to be analyzed intensively. Limited machine learning approaches exist in industrial automation and manufacturing for analyzing data acquired from multiple sources. In this paper, first, a suitable concept for handling heterogeneous data from integration to analysis is presented as well as a multi-layer architecture for the concept’s realization. The architecture encapsulates functionalities into the different layers and allows easy extendability and modifiability. Afterwards, a context modeling approach for managing heterogeneous data and existing approaches and algorithms for analyzing this data robustly and dynamically analyzing it are presented.

Abstract

The creation of a Digital Twin for existing manufacturing systems, so-called brownfield systems, is a challenging task due to the needed expert knowledge about the structure of brownfield systems and the effort to realize the digital models. Several approaches and methods have already been proposed that at least partially digitalize the information about a brownfield manufacturing system. A Digital Twin requires linked information from multiple sources. This paper presents a graph-based approach to merge information from heterogeneous sources. Furthermore, the approach provides a way to automatically identify templates using graph structure analysis to facilitate further work with the resulting Digital Twin and its further enhancement.

Abstract

Systematic Literature Reviews aim at investigating current approaches to conclude a research gap or determine a futuristic approach. They represent a significant part of a research activity, from which new concepts stem. However, with the massive availability of publications at a rapid growing rate, especially digitally, it becomes challenging to efficiently screen and assess relevant publications. Another challenge is the continuous assessment of related work over a long period of time and the consequent need for a continuous update, which can be a time-consuming task. Knowledge graphs model entities in a connected manner and enable new insights using different reasoning and analysis methods. The objective of this work is to present an approach to partially automate the conduction of a Systematic Literature Review as well as classify and visualize the results as a knowledge graph. The designed software prototype was used for the conduction of a review on context-awareness in automation systems with considerably accurate results compared to a manual conduction.

Abstract

The huge potential of the Digital Twin and its benefits in use cases such as virtual commissioning or reconfiguration planning for production systems is often described and well known. One reason that the usage of Digital Twins is becoming increasingly important are current trends, such as individualized mass production, which lead to more frequent reconfigurations of production systems or require higher flexibility. At the same time, many production systems have been in productive use for some time, so-called brownfield systems. Most of them do not have a Digital Twin, but would benefit from one, if available. However, the creation of a Digital Twin is a significant additional effort, due to the creation of the underlying models and the relations between them. Some promising approaches for the creation of domain-specific models already exist, which can be used for the creation of the unconnected parts of a Digital Twin. However, there are still few results for the creation of inter-domain relations, which cause problems in the creation of Digital Twins. This paper therefore presents a methodology for the automated reconstruction of functional relations as well as the separation of functionally related component groups of the plant and its software. For this purpose, the methodology imports the native PLC code via XML, extracts the relevant information from the code and enriches the resulting information model with explicit information about implicit relations in the code. Based on this, various elements of the PLC code are analyzed and the relationship of individual mechatronic components, that are available as signals, are examined and quantified. Thus, a part of the required relations for a Digital Twin is recognized automatically. The methodology and its benefits for the Digital Twin creation is presented and explained using a modular production system with several manufacturing stations as a proof-of-concept.

Abstract

Digital Twins, which serve as virtual representations, are becoming increasingly important to meet the needs of future industrial automation. Digital Twins are mostly created for specific use cases, facing various requirements e.g. reliable intellectual property protection, interoperability, flexibility, or extendability during implementation. For this purpose, decisions regarding structure and technology have to be made before implementation. In this paper, we discuss relevant requirements based on a proposed procedure for the derivation of project-specific intelligent Digital Twin implementations. The influences and correlations of project requirements are discussed concerning the choice of intelligent Digital Twins implementation structure and technology. In addition, the paper outlines their advantages and disadvantages. The proposed procedure is exemplarily illustrated using an intelligent Digital Twin utilized for a modular offshore-platform producing green hydrogen and derivatives.

Abstract

Behavior models in the Digital Twin are relevant to many use cases such as digital product development, virtual system optimization or virtual commissioning. However, such behavior models are structured in the literature according to different criteria and levels, which complicates the selection of the correct properties for specific use cases. One criterion that is discussed very differently is the modeling depth of behavior models. This paper presents different approaches to structure behavior models from literature and introduces a new concept with focus on the modeling depth. These levels of modeling depth, as well as the characteristics of the different modeling depths, are then illustrated using a representative industry scenario.

Abstract

A key performance indicator for sensors in production systems is their accuracy. In order to respond to the flexible requirements posed to production systems, there are currently two possibilities to realize the needed accuracy. Either the sensors can be changed frequently, so that the lowest still sufficient accuracy can always be achieved or the production system can be equipped directly with highly accurate sensors. These two options come with high costs, originating from the manual effort and the proportionality of accuracy and cost for most of the commonly used sensors. Industrially used resistance-based sensors such as pressure, force or temperature sensors represent a special case here, because their inaccuracy traces back to few major sources. To eliminate some of these sources or to decrease their impacts, instance-specific characteristics are used in an accuracy model provided by an intelligent Digital Twin. Using varying accuracy models provides different levels of accuracy. The presented concept provides the needed accuracy permanently or as a service for periods the production system needs the higher accuracy, called Accuracy-as-a-Service (AaaS), benefiting setup efficiency, costs and flexibility. To validate the presented concept, the proposed model is used for an analog pressure sensor in a fluidic test setup. The control unit of the system is provided with a standard model as well as a more accurate one. It is demonstrated in the paper how the usage of the individual model can improve the accuracy of a special sensor significantly by a factor of four.

Abstract

Automation systems are increasingly being used in dynamic and various operating conditions. With higher flexibility demands, they need to promptly respond to surrounding dynamic changes by adapting their operation. Context information collected during runtime can be useful to enhance the system's adaptability. Context-aware systems represent a design paradigm for modeling and applying context in various applications such as decision-making. In order to address context for automation systems, a state-of-the-art assessment of existing approaches is necessary. Thus, the objective of this work is to provide an overview on the design and applications of context and context models for automation systems. A systematic literature review has been conducted, the results of which are represented as a knowledge graph.

Abstract

Neben Herausforderungen bei der Erstellung bieten sich Komponentenherstellern durch den Digitalen Zwilling viele potenzielle Mehrwerte. Auf die Anwendungsfälle, um die entsprechenden Mehrwerte zu realisieren, soll im Folgenden näher eingegangen werden. Für eine effiziente Erstellung aus Sicht des Komponentenherstellers wird ein Konzept präsentiert. Dieses nutzt bestehende Informationen und erstellt häufig fehlende Verhaltensmodelle automatisiert. Zur Veranschaulichung potenzieller Mehrwerte der Verhaltensmodelle wird der Luftverbrauch eines Vakuum-Greifsystems beispielhaft analysiert.

Abstract

Während der Engineering- und Betriebsphase modularer Produktionssysteme entstehen zunehmend Modelle. Der Digitale Zwilling kann diese Modelle für Anwendungen wie die virtuelle Inbetriebnahme, Optimierung, Prognose oder betriebsparallele Simulation zur Verfügung stellen. Durch unvorhersehbare Veränderungen in der Betriebsphase verschlechtert sich die Realitätsnähe der Modelle des Digitalen Zwillings, bspw. aufgrund von Anforderungsänderungen, neuen Anwendungen oder sich ändernden Umwelteinflüssen wie etwa Temperatur- oder Druckschwankungen und eine Modelladaption wird notwendig. Die Adaption der Modelle des Digitalen Zwillings weist einige Herausforderungen auf, die in diesem Beitrag aufgezeigt werden. Um diesen Herausforderungen zu begegnen und dem Adaptionsaufwand während der Betriebsphase entgegenzuwirken, wird ein Konzept präsentiert, welches es dem Digitalen Zwilling ermöglicht, die Abweichung zur Realität zu erkennen und sich durch eine anschließende Modelladaption realitätsnah zu halten.

Abstract

The demand for reconfigurations of production systems is increasing, driven by shorter innovation and product life cycles and economic volatility. Another trend in the domain of industrial automation is the emergence of cyber-physical production systems, which offer promising potentials, for example, self-organization capabilities. A suitable cyber-physical production system architecture that incorporates knowledge modelling and management concerns, plus a reconfiguration management methodology, is crucial for realizing self-organized reconfiguration management. In this paper, first reference architectures, architectural patterns, and basic principles, as well as knowledge modelling and management approaches, are discussed in general. Afterwards, these are examined concerning the reconfiguration management use case focusing on UML/XML-based and ontology-based approaches. A novel approach comprising a multi-agent system and the MAPE-K concept for reconfiguration management is presented. In addition, the approach contains a service-oriented architecture for a deterministic plant control within a layered architecture. The knowledge modelling is realized through a UML information model, which can be integrated into the system utilizing XML files. Furthermore, the provided tool support is described. It enables a user to describe system components in an effort-reduced manner and conform to the schema defined by the information model and its restrictions via a GUI.

Abstract

Current industrial automation systems are facing increasing dynamics. Thus, acquiring and managing heterogeneous data within the Digital Twin to enable decision making is necessary although challenging. Knowledge Graphs unify and relate data, enabling the derivation of new insights. In this contribution, an approach for context-enriched modeling of cyber-physical production systems is proposed, in order to realize a Knowledge Graph enhanced intelligent Digital Twin further considering the context. Therefore, the modeling approach of the Knowledge Graph considers context and serves as a base for the graph embeddings to gain further knowledge about the production system. This knowledge is used within the architecture of the intelligent Digital Twin. The resulting benefits, i.e. diverse manifestations of an improved decision making, are highlighted by the use case of self-organized reconfiguration management.

Abstract

Die Produktion von Wasserstoff und Folgeprodukten unter Nutzung erneuerbarer Energien gilt als großer Hoffnungsträger für das Erreichen einer Klimaneutralität. Im Rahmen des Leitprojekts H2Mare soll der Betrieb einer Offshore-Plattform für Power-to-X-Produktionsprozesse erforscht und erprobt werden. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird zunächst das Projektkonzept einer modularen Offshore-Plattform skizziert. Anschließend werden mit dem Digitalen Zwilling und dem System zur optimalen Betriebsführung zwei Forschungsansätze präsentiert, die zur Effizienzsteigerung dieser Produktionsprozesse beitragen sollen.

Abstract

The use of Digital Twins is versatile and offers a wide range of advantages. However, the creation is often a manual process and therefore very time-consuming and cost-intensive. The creation of behavior models stands out as particularly time-consuming. Therefore, this paper deals with the creation of Digital Twins from the perspective of an industrial component manufacturer, with a particular focus on the creation of behavior models. An automatic approach based on libraries is presented. This concept, in particular for the creation of behavior models, is validated in an industry-relevant application scenario and compared with the manual creation process.

Abstract

The huge potential of the Digital Twin and its benefits in use cases such as virtual commissioning or reconfiguration planning for production systems is often described and well known. One reason that the usage of Digital Twins is becoming increasingly important are current trends, such as individualized mass production, which lead to more frequent reconfigurations of production systems or require higher flexibility. At the same time, many production systems have been in productive use for some time, so-called brownfield systems. Most of them do not have a Digital Twin, but would benefit from one, if available. However, the creation of a Digital Twin is a significant additional effort, due to the creation of the underlying models and the relations between them. Some promising approaches for the creation of domain-specific models already exist, which can be used for the creation of the unconnected parts of a Digital Twin. However, there are still few results for the creation of inter-domain relations, which cause problems in the creation of Digital Twins. This paper therefore presents a methodology for the automated reconstruction of functional relations as well as the separation of functionally related component groups of the plant and its software. For this purpose, the methodology imports the native PLC code via XML, extracts the relevant information from the code and enriches the resulting information model with explicit information about implicit relations in the code. Based on this, various elements of the PLC code are analyzed and the relationship of individual mechatronic components, that are available as signals, are examined and quantified. Thus, a part of the required relations for a Digital Twin is recognized automatically. The methodology and its benefits for the Digital Twin creation is presented and explained using a modular production system with several manufacturing stations as a proof-of-concept.

Abstract

The concept of the intelligent Digital Twin focuses on automatic model creation and model extension for a product throughout its lifecycle using artificial intelligence. To create an intelligent Digital Twin, the Digital Twin architecture must also include software services that support machine learning algorithms. These software services must have two characteristics. First, an interface to the real environment to dynamically receive feedback from an existing product or a product under development. Second, machine learning algorithms that analyze and manage the Digital Twin's models based on feedback from the real product. In this paper, we present the concept and implementation of a software service within the intelligent Digital Twin's architecture for automated requirements modeling as well as for modeling of the product system architecture. Since medical devices differ significantly in their applied technology, area of use, and application, the requirement engineering of medical devices needs to identify and specify the critical design requirements for each product individually. This makes automated requirement engineering and Model-based-Systems Engineering of medical devices very challenging. The implemented intelligent software service meets these challenges for product design in the healthcare sector.

Abstract

Autonomous systems gain more and more interest in research and society. However, they bring new challenges in safeguarding these systems. This contribution orders those new challenges and provides an overview of already existing concepts and approaches to solve those challenges of safeguarding autonomous systems. Moreover, existing metrics for safeguarding of autonomous systems are systematically reviewed. The presented concepts and approaches are of different domains, namely, ground, nautical and aerial vehicles, industrial robots and smart manufacturing, and medical and healthcare. Finally, the concepts and approaches are discussed concerning the following points: Main ideas, parallels existing in different domains, which ideas can be transferred from one domain to another, which high-level tasks were adressed and which assumptions were made.

Abstract

This paper presents a novel approach to ensure the quality of the Digital Twin models that modern Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Systems (CPMS) rely on. CPMS are configurable and intelligent. Environmental and system parameters change frequently. Thus, static models are inadequate. Autonomous mobile robots and the simulation of their movement are important elements of these CPMS. Based on our reinforcement learning-based methodology, we use these robots as an example to show how the Digital Twin automatically improves models that do not perfectly represent the physical asset, making it an intelligent Digital Twin. In our scenario, the behavior of the asset deviates from the simulated prediction, i.e., a simulation gap occurs. The presented approach closes this simulation gap through a three-step mechanism. First, it makes the simulated data and the real data comparable and synchronizes it. Second, it applies reinforcement learning to find patterns in the deviations between the simulated and real data. Third, it learns to compensate for them. The evaluation of this example shows promising results.

Abstract

Increasing productivity, as well as flexibility, is required for the industrial production sector. To meet these challenges, concepts in the field of “Industry 4.0” are arising, such as the concept of Digital Twins. Vacuum handling systems are a widespread technology for material handling in industry and face the same challenges and opportunities. In this field, a key issue is the lack of Digital Twins containing behavior models for vacuum handling systems and their components in different applications and use cases. Therefore, the object of this paper is to propose a novel concept for modeling and simulating the fluidic behavior of pneumatic vacuum ejectors as key components of vacuum handling systems. In order to increase the simulation accuracy, the concept can access instance‐specific data of the used asset instead of object‐specific data. The model and the data are part of the Digital Twins of pneumatic vacuum ejectors, which shall be able to be combined with other components to represent a Digital Twin of entire vacuum handling systems. The proposed model is validated in an experimental test set‐up and in an industrial application delivering sufficiently accurate results.

Abstract

Failure analysis is essential for improving the reliability and manufacturability of electronic devices. With the time-domain reflectometry method, failures can be analyzed non-destructively. The method enables the detection, location, and characterization of hard interconnection failures (open or shorts) as well as of soft interconnection failures, which can give an outlook on imminent hard failures. Generating measurement data from real failed devices is costly since failed devices need to be selected and the measurements need to be performed and prepared. In contrast, simulation models are often available where all possible kinds of failures can be created. Therefore, we propose simulation to real transfer learning for the failure analysis on time-domain reflectometry data. A deep learning model shall first be trained on time-domain reflectometry simulation data and then be transferred to measurement data of a power transistor. We investigate different possibilities of transfer and evaluate the performance of a SiC power transistor.

Abstract

In the production of the future, people and robots will work together in dynamic environments. Industrial mobile robots drive past workers and obstacles to the assemblers' workstations, pick up workpieces and deliver them to the next free workstation. To ensure reliable production, robots must carefully consider their actions based on the current situation to minimize losses. In order to reason about losses, it is necessary to identify loss scenarios that are likely to arise from the system's situation. In this paper, the authors propose a novel methodology for identifying these likely loss scenarios based on fault injectors. The fault injectors are trained using reinforcement learning. Based on a probability model of disruptive events (faults), the agents learn to destabilize the system by simulating such events. When a chain of these events leads to a loss, a loss scenario is found. The higher the probability of the loss scenario, the higher the reward for the agent. In this way, the fault injectors optimize for maximally likely loss scenarios. After describing the methodology, the authors propose a framework for systematically classifying different types of fault injectors and give advice on how to build them. Finally, the authors demonstrate reinforcement learning-based fault injectors on the path planning of the mobile robot platform Robotino.

Abstract

The emerging autonomous mobile robots promise a new level of efficiency and flexibility. However, because these types of systems operate in the same space as humans, mobile robots must cope with dynamic changes and heterogeneously structured environments. To ensure safety, new approaches are needed that model risk at runtime. This risk depends on the situation and is therefore a situational risk. In this paper, we propose a new methodology to model situational risk based on multi-agent adversarial reinforcement learning. In this methodology, two competing groups of reinforcement learning agents, namely the protagonists and the adversaries, fight against each other in the simulation. The adversaries represent the disruptive and destabilizing factors, while the protagonists try to compensate for them. The situational risk is then derived from the outcome of the simulated struggle. At this point, the system’s Digital Twin provides up-to-date and relevant models for simulation and synchronizes the simulation with the real asset. Our risk modeling differentiates the four steps of intelligent information processing: sense, analyze, process, and execute. To find the appropriate adversaries and actors for each of these steps, this methodology builds on Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA). Using STPA, we identify critical signals that lead to losses when a disturbance under certain conditions or in certain situations occurs. At this point, the challenge of managing the complexity arises. We face this issue using training effort as a metric to evaluate it. Through statistical analysis of the identified signals, we derive a procedure for defining action spaces and rewards for the agents in question. We validate the methodology using the example of a Robotino 3 Premium from Festo, an autonomous mobile robot.

Abstract

Industrial mobile robots increasingly operate in dynamic and complex environments, resulting in risks that arise from the situation. Consequently, mobile robots need knowledge about the situative risk to make responsible decisions, e.g., when planning a trajectory. In this paper, the authors present a new approach to evaluate these situative risks at runtime. To compute the situative risk, the proposed approach uses multi-agent adversarial reinforcement learning. Unlike the usual approach that uses the self-play mechanism to harden the agents against disturbances, the approach directly uses the self-play to determine the confidence that the system can handle the current situation. Based on the evaluation of the strength of the perceived perturbations, the robot's digital twin calibrates the action space of the adversarial agents. In this way, the adversarial agents represent the disturbances that are likely to occur. From the simulation results of the competing agents, the digital twin infers the confidence with which the system can handle the situation. In the event that the system cannot handle the situation and crashes in the simulation, the digital twin calculates the probability that the simulated scenario will occur in reality. To calculate this probability, the authors propose the method of game-theoretic event trees. Combining the probability of an accident scenario with the damage caused by the simulated hazard, the results of situative risk are obtained. The approach is qualitatively evaluated using a case study. In this case study, a industrial mobile robot called Robotino is considered that connects workstations in a matrix production system. The case study shows that the approach is promising.

Abstract

In partially automated manufacturing, humans work together with mobile robots. Trajectory prediction, i.e. predicting future positions of human workers, improves collaboration and coexistence between humans and robots on the shop floor. In this paper, we discuss the interrelated research questions of how human motion trajectories can be predicted and how mobile robots such as Autonomous Mobile Robots and Automated Guided Vehicles can take such predictions into account in their pathfinding and navigation. On the robot side, advanced D* pathfinding algorithms allow robots to take dynamic obstacles into account. For trajectory prediction, the position of human workers is determined by an Ultra-Wideband-based Real-Time Locating System. A trajectory prediction framework is introduced to support the implementation and use of pattern- and planning-based trajectory prediction algorithms. The evaluation is based on scenarios from the addressed problem area of manufacturing.

Abstract

In semi-automated manufacturing, an increasing amount of intelligent mobile robots operate in close proximity to human workers. Considering future positions of humans allows to further improve the efficiency in terms of throughput of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV). The longer the prediction horizon, i.e. the more position values of humans can be predicted in the near and distant future, the more a robot can adjust its route accordingly and optimize the process. This paper discusses the challenges of human motion trajectory prediction in manufacturing and presents a schedule-based approach that uses real-time schedule data obtained from Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Schedule-awareness in human motion trajectory prediction extends semantic mapping approaches and effectively reduces the number of probable destinations by considering which process steps are next for the currently produced goods. With a reduced set of destinations, the performance of forward-planning trajectory prediction can be improved. For evaluation, a commercial MES is used together with an Ultra-wideband-based Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) for obtaining position data of humans. On this basis, a naive Bayes classifier utilizes MES-schedule and real-time position data to predict human motion intentions. Abstract activity modeling ensures that only a few training data sets are required for deployment, thus making this approach suitable for rapidly changing manufacturing environments such as in flexible manufacturing.

Abstract

The use of the Digital Twin as a promising technology during the reconfiguration of automated systems enables to meet the challenges of increasing product diversity and shortening product life cycles in today's industry. The use of Digital Twins supports engineers in all phases of the life cycle of a production line. Over time, however, production facilities are often modified and improved, while at the same time the created models during the engineering process of the system remain unchanged and no longer correspond to the real facility. Manual updating of the positions in the digital layout is very time-consuming and therefore expensive. This paper presents a concept for the automatic update of the layout of a production line. In this concept, the positions of the robots and their active and passive peripheral devices are automatically positioned in a digital plant model using information from the current configuration of the robots in a production line. Therefore, engineers can use the resulting synchronized digital plant model, Digital Twin of the system, to further optimize or expand the production plant.

Abstract

This paper presents a study about a runtime mechanism to monitor the performance degradation in intra-vehicular networks. The proposed mechanism focuses on the integration of fault modeling in communication protocols, as non-functional requirements (NFR), using aspect-oriented modeling (AOM), to model the performance degradation generated by faults, linking test and design phases of distributed control systems. A case study analyzing the mechanism performance in both CAN and CANFD protocols was conducted considering the NFR specification related to fault disturbances. In order to evaluate and simulate the mechanism under real fault scenarios, an active suspension control system was considered as an example of a critical control system and faults were injected using the hardware Vector VH6501 (CAN disturbance interface). The network performance analysis was made based on the software Vector CANoe considering different network busloads and CAN/CAN-FD rates between 1 to 4 Mbps. Results show that the mechanism efficiently detects anomalous events on performance with short response time with busloads up to 30%. The performed experiments show better performance on CAN-FD registering lower average jitter during fault injection in all busloads tested scenarios.

Abstract

Electronic devices are one of the key factors for recent advances in smart production systems or automotive. Reliability and robustness are key issues. To further increase this reliability, occurring failures in an electronic device has to be investigated in post-production failure analysis processes. One recent technique to detect and locate failures in electronic components is Time-Domain Reflectometry. This method offers the chance to detect several kinds of failures (e.g. a hard or soft failure) and localize the failure nondestructively. In theory, this can be determined following defined physical formulas. Nevertheless, the received signals are not perfect and mixed with noise from the measurement device or disturbed by nonoptimal material properties. In addition, complex architectures of devices are hard to model based on analytical models. Thus, these models solely are not sufficient for the failure analysis process. For this reason, a hybrid modeling approach is proposed, using a Machine Learning model in combination with physical models to detect and characterize the failure and its exact position. The Machine Learning model will be trained with simulated Time-Domain Reflectometry data.

Abstract

Developing consistently well performing visual recognition applications based on convolutional neural networks, e.g. for autonomous driving, is very challenging. One of the obstacles during the development is the opaqueness of their cognitive behaviour. A considerable amount of literature has been published which describes irrational behaviour of trained CNNs showcasing gaps in their cognition. In this paper, a methodology is presented that creates worst-case images using image augmentation techniques. If the CNN's cognitive performance on such images is weak while the augmentation techniques are supposedly harmless, a potential gap in the cognition has been found. The presented worst-case image generator is using adversarial search approaches to efficiently identify the most challenging (worst) image. This is evaluated with the well-known AlexNet CNN using images depicting a typical driving scenario.

Abstract

Digital Twins are being increasingly used in manufacturing industry to support the whole plant lifecycle. The constantly changing environmental parameters, interactions between various systems and their Digital Twin as well as changes inside the Digital Twin influences the context of the available information. This context information is insufficiently considered to analyze process and optimize the interaction. This article presents an approach to model the internal and external context of a system using a graph-based context tier model. The usage and benefits.

Abstract

The progress of digitalization and Internet of Things enables more and more complex, networked and powerful Cyber-physical Systems (CPS) operating in uncertain environments. This complexity and uncertainty, however, makes it unfeasible to model every aspect in advance. This causes the models to leave their scope and reach their capability limits. Specifically, in safe maintenance planning for highly-automated trucks, this fact causes waste of valuable resource, since maintenance models are often more rule-of-thumb (e.g. operation hours) than precise. In order to counteract this issue, we propose extending the digital twin concept by artificial intelligence such that the models become dynamic and adaptive. Having described the general approach and its architecture, we showcase and evaluate the approach in a highly-automated truck scenario.

Abstract

Future automation systems, operating under increasing dynamic conditions need to be equipped with methods to enhance their adaptability accordingly. Context-aware systems model and apply contextual parameters influencing the interpretation of situations to adapt their operation accordingly. Designing context-aware automation systems requires methods to acquire and process heterogeneous and distributed data in a dynamic and continuous manner. In this contribution, a methodology for processing multimodal data in a flexible and reusable context-model is demonstrated, using concepts of data aggregation and integration, semantic labeling and graph modeling. Based on this approach, the use case of a context-aware medication assistance system is subsequently presented.

Abstract

At collaborative workspaces, humans and robots share the shop floor and work closely together. Operator 4.0 is a wide research topic and its solutions aim at the creation of Human-centered Cyber-Physical Systems that improve operators’ capabilities. Such applications require a bi directional flow of information and need data, models and simulations of machines as well as humans. To realize a common interface for information, the concept of Digital Twin is promising. This paper therefore discusses the adaption of conventional Digital Twin architectures and presents a derived Human-centered Digital Twin (H-DT) architecture designed for operators in production and intralogistics.

Abstract

Im Sinne der Qualitätssicherung sollen zukünftig produzierte Halbleiterbauelemente den steigenden Anforderungen an Zuverlässigkeit, Konnektivität und Automatisierung standhalten. Dazu ist ein Fehleranalyseprozess notwendig. Um die Effizienz zu steigern und die Fehleranfälligkeit zu reduzieren, soll der Fehleranalyseprozesses mit dazugehöriger Datenanalyse automatisiert werden. Dafür muss zunächst ein Konzept für die automatisierte Integration heterogener Daten aus unterschiedlichen Datenquellen auf Basis aktueller Daten Engineering Methoden entwickelt werden. Die Daten aus unterschiedlichen Quellen (z.B. Produktionsdaten, Datenblätter, Analyseverfahren) müssen eindeutig einem Bauelement zugeordnet werden können und neue Daten oder Analyseergebnisse diesem hinzugefügt werden können. In diesem Beitrag wird für die automatisierte Datenintegration des Fehleranalyseprozesses von Halbleiterbauelementen ein Konzept mithilfe von Ontologien und Graphen vorgestellt und dessen Mehrwerte anhand eines Anwendungsfalls mit einer prototypischen Umsetzung diskutiert. Dafür wird ein hybrider Ontologie-Ansatz genutzt, um die heterogenen Daten in einem Knowledge Graphen zu verknüpfen. Der vorgestellte Ansatz ermöglicht sowohl eine lokale als auch eine globale Datenanalyse. Dadurch können sowohl bisher entwickelte Datenanalyse-Ansätze genutzt werden, als euch neue Algorithmen aufgebaut werden.

Abstract

The frequency of changes in production requirements is continuously increasing due to economic volatility, shorter innovation cycles and product life cycles. Therefore, a prediction of all goals of a production system at development time is impossible, which is leading to an increased reconfiguration demand during operation. Currently, there are still some weaknesses concerning the reconfiguration of production systems, which are highlighted in this article. The future of industrial automation will be dominated by Cyber-Physical Production Systems, which offer many promising potentials. Hence, this contribution discusses the Cyber-Physical Production Systems and some of their potentials regarding the reconfiguration issues. Corresponding concepts are required to utilize these theoretical potentials. Therefore, this research provides a basic concept for self-organized reconfiguration management.

Abstract

Data-science-driven development projects are increasingly gaining the attention of small and medium sized enterprises. Since SME are often lacking the necessary competencies in data science, cooperation with other companies or universities is required. The efficient handling of data is one of the main challenges in joint cross-enterprise development projects. Actual cost driver is the development of data by labeling and classifying the data by domain experts, which is very time-consuming and labor-intensive with large amounts of data. Furthermore, clearance processes also have a high potential to cause delays before data can be shared with project partners. Moreover, before the actual work can begin, it is often necessary to clean up and repair incomplete or noisy data. The concept of Data Administration Shell presented in this paper addresses the challenge of structured information sharing and information management in joint cross-enterprise engineering. The Data Administration Shell links data sets to information regarding data origin and already performed analyses including their results and program scripts. Adding relations and documentation facilitates the reuse of data sets for subsequent projects. For this purpose, the Data Administration Shell adapts the concepts serving the information sharing in the research field of manufacturing and Digital Twin. The evaluation of the Data Administration Shell was based on time-series measurement data from a production process optimization scenario. Here, the Data Administration Shell manages the data sets of time series data and facilitates the joint cross-enterprise engineering of data-driven solutions.

Abstract

Shorter product life cycles and increasing individualization of production leads to an increased reconfiguration demand in the domain of industrial automation systems, which will be dominated by cyber-physical production systems in the future. In constantly changing systems, however, not all configuration alternatives of the almost infinite state space are fully understood. Thus, certain configurations can lead to process instability, a reduction in quality or machine failures. Therefore, this paper presents an approach that enhances an intelligent Digital Twin with a self-organized reconfiguration management based on adaptive process models in order to find optimized configurations more comprehensively.

Abstract

Model-based systems engineering is a methodology for the interdisciplinary system development using different domain models. Considering the intended system’s environment and context of usage in early design phases is a way of bridging the gap from system’s design to its real-life applicability. Simulations represent a possible approach to consider different constellations but are effortful. Therefore, we present a generic environment modeling approach to evaluate different environmental models with their respective environmental, user and system’s impact based on generated system variants derived from system requirements. In this sequential process, we consistently link and evaluate system variants to possible system contexts.

Abstract

Ensuring and improving the reliability of electronic devices requires post-production failure analysis processes. One of the techniques to perform failure analysis for electronic devices is Time-Domain Reflectometry. With this method, failures can be detected, located, and characterized non-destructively. It enables not only the detection of hard interconnection failures (such as an open or a short) but also the detection and characterization of soft failures. For Time-Domain Reflectometry, known physical equations can be applied to model the ideal behavior of a signal for different failures. However, since electronic device architectures and thus the data become more and more complex and measurements are disturbed by noise or nonoptimal material properties, these models solely are not sufficient for failure analysis. Therefore we propose hybrid modeling, where machine learning models (e.g. convolutional neural networks) work together with physical models to detect, locate, classify and characterize the failure. The first approach is shown on simulated microstrip line data and then transferred to SiC transistors for evaluation.