Towards industrial application of model-driven platform-independent PLC programming using UML

Abstract

To manage the increasing complexity of automation software, new development methods are needed. The model-driven development (MDD) approaches are very promising here. However, switching to the MDD in industrial software development practice is complicated, and required efforts are often very high. Therefore, the MDD approaches are still far from the widespread industrial usage. With the presented approach the next steps towards the industrial application of MDD technologies are performed. The approach is not intended to replace existing development practices in industry, but it aims at the step-by-step introduction of MDD technologies into industrial software development.

Evolution of software in automated production systems: Challenges and research directions

“…Sequence diagrams (Kormann et al, 2012) and activity diagrams (Bayrak et al, 2011) have been adapted and integrated too, but are not available on the market yet. Code generation from plcML to Siemens S7 10 platform has been introduced in Tikhonov et al (2014). For hybrid models combining closed loop control and interlocking, Bayrak et al (2012) and Schneider et al (2014) developed the model transformation from MATLAB/Simulink to CFC for different PLC programming environments.…”

Knowledge-based cyber-physical systems for assembly automation

“…Current research in the field of model-driven engineering is mainly focused on developing new methods to support the development process of new software using modeling languages such as Unified Modeling Language (UML) or Systems Modeling Language (SysML) (Vogel-Heuser, Fischer, Feldmann, Ulewicz, & Rsch, 2017). Most approaches are based on UML, having the software structure and the behaviors automatically derived from the developed UML models as software artifacts into the target language (Tikhonov, Schtz, Ulewicz, & Vogel-Heuser, 2014). An approach based on UML for the automatic generation of field control strategies is presented by Legat, Schtz, and Vogel-Heuser (2014).…”

“…Various methodologies and technologies for enabling automated configurability and increasing the flexibility within production automation systems are available. Modeldriven approaches are still far from widespread industrial usage, since switching to such paradigms in industrial software development practice is complicated, and the required efforts are often very high (Tikhonov et al, 2014). The reasons are one side used modeling languages that are usually not familiar to the designated users (control practitioners) and model-driven approaches, which only allow performing modifications and revisions within the models to keep consistency of code and models (Julius et al, 2017).…”

A Novel Block-Based Programming Framework for Non-programmers to Validate PLC Based Machine Tools for Automotive Manufacturing Facilities

“…The improvements proposed by Theorin concern additional functionality rather than user friendliness. Some papers on the other hand [14], [15], [16], [17] propose a graphical approach based on the UML notation. It consists of a structure editor, a behaviour editor and I/O mapping utility.…”