Structuring Cyber-Physical Systems for Distributed Control with IEC 61499 Standard
Ernesto Monroy Cruz, Luis Rodolfo García Carrillo, Luis Alberto Cruz Salazar
Abstract
With the constant growth in size and complexity of modern industrial applications, it is not suitable to use a unique and centralized controller device for the whole process. Thus, automation solutions need to be designed by distributing control execution across different devices. Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) are designed to solve networked embedded systems complexities. The IEC 61499 standard fosters developing distributed control applications by defining a platform-independent application model that can be mapped to numerous hardware components. Therefore, a relevant research topic is how to solve the design complexities of industrial CPSs by applying modeling techniques. In that context, this paper proposes an IEC 61499-based model for CPSs to distribute the complexity of control software over numerous small devices. The approach enables the creation of a comprehensive structure that can combine design, simulation, and distributed deployment of automation software. The proposed scheme is validated through a packet sorting system implemented in a commercial IDE platform.