Multi Agent Systems based CPPS – An Industry 4.0 Test Case

Abstract

With the rise of the Industry 4.0 Revolution, Artificial Intelligence, digitalization, and connectivity have been more than ever; adopted in the industrial world. This adoption is leading to the transformation of the mechatronic systems used in production into Cyber-Physical Production Systems. Such a concept is taking industrial Automation and computer integrated manufacturing to the next level. The massive migration of traditional production systems into Cyber-Physical Production Systems, including the MAS-based CPPS, made the reviewing of the traditional methods of Engineering and Commissioning a must. Which explains the increase in the number of research works during recent years about the application of these Architectures on practical cases. In the present paper, we propose a way of developing and implementing MAS-based CPPS on an Industry 4.0 Assembly Platform. Moreover, we test the behavior of the Multi-Agent systems with interaction with SIEMENS Programmable Logic Controllers via OPC UA Protocol, during a Software-In-the-Loop “SIL” Test on a 3D Model of the Platform running on a separate Computer. The test assesses the behavior of the components of a typical Cyber-Physical production module during the treatment of a given operation on the product, to extract the vulnerabilities in the treatment of the operation and search for appropriate improvements.