Service-Based Architectures in Production Systems: Challenges, Solutions & Experiences
Thomas Kühn, Frank Schnicke, Pablo Oliveira Antonino
Abstract
The automation industry is undergoing many changes. The fourth industrial revolution (Industrie 4.0) is the answer to changing markets and increasing quality requirements. Customers demand individualized products and smaller lot sizes. This requires the end-to-end digitalization of manufacturing processes and raises the need for system architectures for next-generation automation systems. Within the context of the national reference project BaSys 4, we researched a service-based architecture for the automation domain and integrated it with ongoing standardization activities. Service-oriented Architecture (SoA) is a proven architecture pattern from the domain of IT systems. It propagates reusable services that are orchestrated to create scalable applications. Our SoA is based on the concept of asset administration shells that realize digital twins, which are digital representations of production assets with unified interfaces that enable access to asset services and data. We explain and discuss realization concepts for digital twins, and illustrate our experiences with the transfer of the service-based architecture principle to the automation industry within the context of selected Industrie 4.0 use cases. We highlight solution approaches for the efficient realization of lot size 1 production as well as for creating digital twins of production assets, and discuss levels of Industrie 4.0 maturity.