9th IFAC Conference on Manufacturing Modelling, Management and

9th IFAC Conference on Manufacturing

Control Modelling,
Available Management
online and
at www.sciencedirect.com
9th IFAC Conference
Control
9th IFAC Conference on
on Manufacturing
Manufacturing Modelling,
Modelling, Management
Management and
and
Berlin, Germany, August 28-30, 2019
Control
Berlin, Germany, August 28-30, 2019
Control
Berlin,
Berlin, Germany,
Germany, August
August 28-30,
28-30, 2019
2019 ScienceDirect
IFAC PapersOnLine 52-13 (2019) 1825–1830
A Novel Framework for Intelligent Automation
A Novel Framework for Intelligent Automation
A
A Novel
Novel Framework
Framework for for Intelligent
Intelligent Automation
Automation
Tiago Coito*, Joaquim L. Viegas*, Miguel S. E. Martins*, Mariana M. Cunha*
Tiago Coito*, Joaquim
JoãoJoaquim
Figueiredo**, L. Viegas*, Susana Miguel S. E. Martins*,
M. Vieira*, Mariana
João M. Mariana
C. Sousa*M. M. Cunha*
Tiago
Tiago Coito*,
Coito*, JoãoJoaquim
Figueiredo**, L.
L. Viegas*,
Viegas*, Susana Miguel
Miguel S.
S. E.
E. Martins*,
M. Vieira*, Martins*, C. Sousa*M. Cunha*
João M. Mariana Cunha*
João
João Figueiredo**,
Figueiredo**, Susana Susana M. M. Vieira*,
Vieira*, João João M. M. C.
C. Sousa*
Sousa*
*IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
*IDMEC, Instituto Superior
(e-mail: tiagoascoito@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa,miguelsemartins@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
joaquim.viegas@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; Lisboa, Portugal
*IDMEC,
*IDMEC, Instituto
Instituto Superior
Superior Técnico,
Técnico, Universidade
Universidade de
joaquim.viegas@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; de Lisboa, Lisboa,
Lisboa, Portugal
Lisboa,miguelsemartins@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
Portugal
(e-mail:mariana.cunha@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
tiagoascoito@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; susana.vieira@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; jmsousa@tecnico.ulisboa.pt)
(e-mail: tiagoascoito@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
(e-mail:mariana.cunha@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; joaquim.viegas@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
tiagoascoito@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; joaquim.viegas@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
susana.vieira@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; miguelsemartins@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
miguelsemartins@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
jmsousa@tecnico.ulisboa.pt)
**IDMEC, Universidadesusana.vieira@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
mariana.cunha@tecnico.ulisboa.pt; de Évora, Évora, Portugal (e-mail:jmsousa@tecnico.ulisboa.pt)
jfig@uevora.pt)
mariana.cunha@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
**IDMEC, Universidadesusana.vieira@tecnico.ulisboa.pt;
de Évora, Évora, Portugal (e-mail:jmsousa@tecnico.ulisboa.pt)
jfig@uevora.pt)
**IDMEC,
**IDMEC, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal (e-mail: jfig@uevora.pt)
Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal (e-mail: jfig@uevora.pt)
Abstract: As the industry continues to pursue the reduction of downtimes and increases in the efficiency
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industrial
settings,
solutions. this
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order proposes
to a framework for intelligent automation. The traditional automation pyramid
solutions.this
settings, In paper to deal
order proposesdeal with
with
a current
current challenges
framework challenges
for in
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intelligent acquisition
automation. and
andThemanagement
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automation in industrial
industrial
pyramid
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paper today’s
proposes application
aa framework requirements,
for as intelligent automation needs to exchange, in real-
settings,
does not this
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with proposesapplication
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intelligent
requirements, as automation.
automation.
intelligent The
The traditional
automation traditional
needs automation
automation
to exchange, pyramid
pyramid
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time,
does information
not cope with with
with today’s
today’s all layers
application of the pyramid,
requirements, simultaneously.
assimultaneously.
intelligent automation The
automation middleware
needs to for
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exchange, intelligent
in real-
real-
does
time, not cope
information with allapplication
layers of requirements,
the pyramid, as intelligent The needs
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intelligent
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time, provideswith
information interoperability
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simultaneously. with cloud functionalities
middleware for and
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time,
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provides interoperability layers of the
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software along The middleware for intelligent
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interoperability also provides
through integrationdecentralization
software alongby with
with
cloud to
connecting
cloud
functionalities
remote decision
functionalities
and
and
automation
big data provides interoperability
warehousing. The middleware through
also integration
provides software along
decentralization by with cloud to
connecting functionalities
remote and
decision
support
big data systems.
warehousing. This paper
The presents two
middleware also real implementation
provides decentralization examples by of the framework
connecting to remote in the wood
decision
big data systems.
support warehousing. This The middleware
paper presents two also provides
real decentralization
implementation examples by ofconnecting
the to remote
framework in decision
the wood
and
supportthe chemicalThis industry. The framework successfully addresses the requirements of keyin intelligent
and the systems.
support
automation
systems.
chemical
features
This paper
paperThe
industry.
and data
presents
presents two
two real
framework
characteristics,
real implementation
implementation
successfully
supporting theaddresses examples
examples
development the of of
of the
the framework
requirements
support
framework
of key
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the
the wood
in intelligent
systems
wood
into
and
and the
automation chemical
the chemical
features industry.
industry.
and data The
The framework
framework supporting
characteristics, successfully
successfully theaddresses
addresses
development the requirements
the of
requirements
support of key
of key
decision intelligent
intelligent
systems into
automation
automation modules.
features Copyright © 2019 IFAC
features and
automation modules. and data
data characteristics,
Copyright © 2019 IFACsupporting
characteristics, supporting the the development
development of of support
support decision
decision systems
systems into into
automation
© 2019, IFAC modules. Copyright
(International ©
© 2019
Federation ofIFAC
Automatic Control) Execution
Hosting by Systems,
Elsevier Ltd. All rights
Keywords:
automation modules.
Intelligent Copyright
Automation, 2019
SCADA, IFAC Manufacturing Industry 4.0. reserved.
Keywords: Intelligent Automation, SCADA, Manufacturing Execution Systems, Industry 4.0.
Keywords: Intelligent
Keywords: Intelligent Automation,
Automation, SCADA, SCADA, Manufacturing
Manufacturing Execution Execution Systems,
Systems, Industry
Industry 4.0.
4.0.
1 communication more complex and both real-time, and
1. INTRODUCTION11 communication more dependent
complex and both real-time, and
1
1. INTRODUCTION1 decentralized-decision
communication more complex (Mcfarlane
and both et al. 2012).
real-time, and
1
11. INTRODUCTION 1 communication
decentralized-decision more complex
dependent and both
(Mcfarlane real-time,
et al. and
2012).
Taiichi Ohno, in Toyota Production System
1. INTRODUCTION (Ohno 1988) The ability to grow is linked
decentralized-decision dependentto the (Mcfarlane
efficiency offered et al. and the
2012).
Taiichi Ohno, in Toyota Production System (Ohno 1988) decentralized-decision
The ability to grow is dependent
linked to the (Mcfarlane
efficiency et al. and
offered 2012).
the
used the concept of autonomation or "automation with a flexibility
The with which new systems plug-and-work with
Taiichi
TaiichitheOhno,
used Ohno,
concept in
in Toyota Production
ProductionorSystem
autonomation
Toyota System (Ohno
(Ohno with 1988) The ability
1988)a flexibility to
to grow
ability with grow is
is linked
linked to the
the efficiency
newtosystems efficiency offered
offered and the
andwith
the
human
used thetouch"
concept to of
describe
of autonomation
"automation
machine orintelligence
"automation andwith howa previous,
flexibility whilst
with
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new of global
systems
plug-and-work
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plug-and-work with
used
human thetouch"
concept to of autonomation
describe machine orintelligence
"automationandwith how flexibilitywhilst
a previous, with taking
whichadvantage
new systems of global plug-and-work
standards. with
machines
human wouldtooperate autonomously in the years and to come. previous, whilst taking advantage ofThe
global standards.
human touch"
machines touch"
wouldtooperate
describe
describe machine
machine intelligence
autonomously intelligence
in the years and to4.0
how
come. Data is a whilst
how previous, valuable business
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advantage global continuous
standards. data flow
Today, Intelligent
machines would
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operate autonomously arrived
autonomously in with
in the Industry
the years
years to as a Data is a valuable business asset. The continuous data flow
to come.
come.
machines
Today, Intelligent generated by such environments can be addressed by
combination
Today, Intelligentof Automation
Automation
arrived with and
artificial intelligence
arrived with
Industry
Industry
4.0 as a Data
automation
4.0 as Data is
aa generated is aa valuable
valuable business asset.
by suchbusiness asset. The
environments The can
continuous
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addressed flow
by
Today, Intelligent
combination Automation
of Deloitte
artificial2014). arrived
intelligence with Industry
and 4.0automation4.0 as integrated
generated analysis
by to optimize the control production
(Accenture 2016; The Industry initiative, integrated
generated analysis by such
such environments
environments can
can be
be of addressed
addressed by
by
combination
combination
(Accenture of artificial
of Deloitte
2016; artificial2014).intelligence
intelligence
The Industry and
and 4.0automation
automation
initiative, processes
integrated the formto
inanalysis toof optimize
data-basedthe
optimize the
control
decision
control support
of
production
systems.
production
digital manufacturing,
(Accenture 2016; Deloittesmart2014).factories
The or
Industry fourth
4.0 industrial
initiative, integrated inanalysis
processes the form toof optimize
data-based the controlsupport
decision of production
systems.
(Accenture
digital 2016; Deloitte
manufacturing, 2014). The Industry 4.0 initiative, The acquisition, manipulation and use of data has become
systems.a
revolution, have all in smart common factories or fourth
the organizational industrial
changes The processes
processes in the
in the form
form of data-based
of data-based decision
decision support
support systems.
digital
digital manufacturing,
manufacturing,
revolution, have all in
smart
smart
common
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the
or
or fourth
fourth industrial
organizational industrial
changes core acquisition,
The value behindmanipulation
acquisition, the investment
manipulation
andinuse
and usenew oftechnologies
of
data
data
has become
has by theaa
become
introduced
revolution, by the
have all adoption
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organizational and devices,
changes The acquisition,
core value behind manipulation
the investment andinuse new oftechnologies
data has become by thea
revolution, have
introduced by the all adoption
in common of the organizational
technologies and and changes core
devices, industry. value Areas
behind behind
the this transformation
investment in new include:
technologies by the
capable
introducedof autonomously
by interact with one another, with core
industry. value behind
Areas the
behind investment
this in new
transformation technologies
include: by the
introduced
capable of by thethe adoption
autonomously adoption of
of technologies
interact technologies
with one another,
and
and and devices,
devices,
with industry. Areas behind this transformation include:
people,
capable along
of the value of chain (Kagermann, Wahlster, and •
industry. Areas
Intelligentbehind this transformation
Automation, such include:
as cyber-physical
people, of autonomously
capable along autonomously interact with
ofinteract
the value Parliment with one
chain (Kagermann, one another,
another,
Wahlster,
and
and with
with
and • Intelligent Automation, robotics such as and cyber-physical
Helbig
people, 2013;
along European
the value
value of of chain 2016).
chain (Kagermann,
(Kagermann, Wahlster, and and •• systems,
Intelligent collaborative
Automation, such predictive
people, along the
Helbig 2013; European Parliment 2016). Wahlster, Intelligent collaborative
systems, Automation, robotics such as as andcyber-physical
cyber-physical
predictive
Helbig 2013; European Parliment 2016). analytics (Faller
systems, collaborative and Höftmann
collaborative robotics 2018);
robotics and and predictive
predictive
Helbig 2013; European Parliment 2016). systems,
analytics (Faller and Höftmann 2018);
1.1 Towards a data-driven industry • analytics
analytics
Internet (Faller
(Faller
of and
and
Things Höftmann
Höftmann
(IoT), 2018);
2018);
where all devices are
1.1 Towards a data-driven industry • Internet ofto Things (IoT), and where all devices with are
1.1
1.1 Towards a data-driven industry expected
•• expected be connected communicate
The Towards
change aindata-driven
the paradigm industry does not change what is Internet
Internet of
each
ofto Things
other,
Things
be referred (IoT),
(IoT), and
connected by
where
where all
all devices
devices with
communicate
the International
are
are
The change
generically in
pursued the paradigm
by the does
industry, not
which change
is to what
reduce is expected
expected to
to be
be connected
connected and
and communicate
communicate with
with
The each other, referred by the International
The change
changepursued
generically
in
in thethe by paradigm
paradigm
the the
does
does not
industry, not change
changetowhat what is
is Telecommunications
each
each other,other, referred
Union by as "the theinfrastructure
International of
downtimes and optimize
generically pursued
pursued by thethe industry, usage which
industry, of theis
which is to to
reduce
resources.
reduce Telecommunications
the information
referred
Union by
society"; as "the theinfrastructure
International of
generically
downtimes and optimize by the usage which is reduce Telecommunications Union
Union as as "the
"the infrastructure
infrastructure of
Nowadays, mass
downtimes and customization is the of the of
result resources.
market Telecommunications
the information society"; of
downtimes mass
Nowadays, and optimize
optimize
customization
the
the usageusage
is the
of the
ofresult
the of resources.
resources.
market the information society";
pressure to combine
Nowadays, mass low costs of is
customization mass the production
result of with the
market • Cloud-based solutions and edge computing
the information society";
Nowadays,
pressure mass customization
toofcombine low costs of is
mass the result of with
et al.production
market
the • Cloud-based
supporting bigsolutions and edge
data platforms, whilecomputing
ensuring
flexibility
pressure
pressure to
flexibility
custom production
toofcombine
combine
custom low
low costs
costs of
production
(Liu
of
(Liumass
mass
et
2018). Companies
production
production
al. 2018). with
with the
Companies the •• supporting
Cloud-based
Cloud-based bigsolutions
solutions
data and
and edge
platforms, edge
while computing
computing
ensuring
are forced to produce smaller and more diverse batches, peripheral
supporting decentralization
big through the use of the
flexibility
flexibility
are
of
oftocustom
forcedthe custom
produce
production
production
smaller
(Liu
(Liu et al.
and etmore al. 2018).
2018).
diverse
Companies
Companies
batches, peripheral big data
supporting decentralizationdata platforms,
platforms,
through
while
while ensuring
the useensuring
of the
making level of organization, integration and resources
peripheral of the devices (Shi et al. 2016);
are
are forced
forcedtheto
making to produce
produce smaller and
level ofsmaller and more
organization,
diverse
diverse batches,
more integration batches,
and peripheralofdecentralization
resources decentralization
the devices (Shithrough
through the the use
et al. 2016); use ofof the
the
making the level of organization,
making the level of organization, integration and integration and resources
• resources
Digital twins,of the
of the fordevices
devices (Shi et
(Shi et al.
simulation al. 2016);
2016);(Liu et al.
models
• Digital
2018) and twins,augmented
for simulation reality.models (Liu et al.
Virtualization is
* This work was supported by FCT, through IDMEC, under
* This work was supported by FCT, through IDMEC, under
•
• Digital
Digital
2018) twins,
twins,
and for
for
augmented simulation
simulation
reality. models
models (Liu
(Liu et
Virtualization et al.
al.
is
LAETA,
* project UID/EMS/50022/2019. achieved
2018) through
and digitalization
augmented reality. efforts.
Virtualization is
* This work
This work was supported
wasUID/EMS/50022/2019. by FCT, through
supported by FCT, through IDMEC, under IDMEC, under 2018)
achieved and
throughaugmented reality.
digitalization Virtualization
efforts. is
LAETA, project achieved through digitalization efforts.
LAETA, project UID/EMS/50022/2019.
LAETA, project UID/EMS/50022/2019. achieved through digitalization efforts.

2405-8963 © 2019, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright
Peer review©under
2019 responsibility
IFAC 1853Control.
of International Federation of Automatic
Copyright © 2019 IFAC 1853
10.1016/j.ifacol.2019.11.501
Copyright © 2019 IFAC 1853
Copyright © 2019 IFAC 1853
2019 IFAC MIM
1826
Berlin, Germany, August 28-30, 2019 Tiago Coito et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 52-13 (2019) 1825–1830
1.2 An industry fuelled by incomplete data
Data inconsistency represents a challenge. Data often comes
polluted, in too many forms and formats, is incomplete or
completely lacking, has too many errors, was not properly
tracked or is unstructured (Inmon and Linstedt 2015). The
problem often does not rely on applications and systems that
leverage data, but with the architecture under which it must
be acquired and handled. In the future industry will rely ever
more on data. Fields such as data science and business
intelligence are in constant growth (Larson and Chang 2016).
This deficiency in the data management must be properly
handled or it can become a bottleneck for the development of
the industry.
This paper proposes a framework to address the challenge of
the acquisition and management of data by changing the
traditional automation pyramid into a more dynamic and
flexible approach, supporting the development of a
Middleware for Intelligent Automation (MIA). MIA
integrates traditional automation technologies with cloud
services, big data warehousing and integration software
towards decision support systems. Two real implementation
examples of architectures, in the wood and chemical industry,
under this framework, are presented.
2. THE AUTOMATION PYRAMID
The information exchange between the production processes
and business planning and logistics is achieved through the
development of data-driven industrial architectures. The
Automation Pyramid is the framework delivered by ISA-95,
an international standard from the International Society of
Automation to deliver this interface in 5 layers as shown in
Fig. 1.
ERP Business Planning and Logistics
MES Manufacturing Operations Management
SCADA/HMI Monitoring and Supervising
PLC Sensing and Manipulating
Sensors and Signals Production Process
Fig. 1. Automation Pyramid according to ISA-95.
In the bottom layer, barcode and Radio-Frequency
Identification (RFID) are state of the art identification
technologies used to track and monitor resources, delivering
traceability and empowering intelligence systems with crucial
data (Rance et al. 2017; Zhong et al. 2017).
SCADA is a control and network system architecture for
communications and data exchange between a supervisor, the
SCADA computer, distributed Human Machine Interfaces
(HMIs), the controllers such as PLCs (Programmable Logic
Controller) and devices (sensors and actuators) in the shop
floor. The SCADA system architecture is the standard for
industry data acquisition (Figueiredo and Sá da Costa 2012),
1854
providing high repeatability and reliability taking advantage
of the small PLC cycle times. This architecture isolates
physical systems from higher levels of abstraction.
Manufacturing Execution System (MES) adds an abstraction
layer to the control systems towards the enterprise business
layer. MES are used to track, analyse and inform in real-time
all the transformations that occur in the shop floor from the
raw materials into finished goods. (Mehta and Reddy 2015).
MES provides Business Intelligence (BI) from production
processes to both the shop floor and the enterprise in real-
time. MES can be used to measure Key Success Indicators
(KPIs) such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
retrieving statistical process data and collaborating with
intelligent decision support systems. The decentralization of
decision support systems is already affecting how MES needs
to communicate with other systems (Almada-Lobo 2015).
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a modular and
integrated suite of applications responsible for the
management of the core business processes of a company.
Usually operates in (or near) real-time over the same
database. Today many new applications are being added to
industrial operations, they can come from digitalization
efforts, data acquisition solutions such as SCADA and MES,
or based on the extraction of useful knowledge from raw data
with machine learning and data mining tools (Ian H. Witten
2011). Due to the increasing complexity, many business
models often require a Best of Breed solution, when a single
ERP does not uniquely address the company’s particular
requirements (Costigliola et al. 2017).
As disrupting technologies are emerging and the data
management becomes more complex, Big Data Warehousing
(BDW) appears as a state of the art technology that allows
real-time collection and processing of the generated big data
(Krishnan 2013). The integrated metadata within the BDW is
fetched through Extract Transform Load (ETL) operations
from the different data sources. BI can be used to analyse the
different dimensions of the BDW through Online Analytical
Processing (OLAP) cubes in real-time. BDW can be used in
modern shop floors to support decision support systems and
feed Intelligent Automation solutions.
Cloud-based solutions are also affecting the automation
pyramid, providing industry with services, applications and
resources via the internet enabling scalability, flexibility,
security and reduced maintenance costs over a remote cloud
computing infrastructure. Cloud connectivity delivers data
analytics by plug and play multiple data systems to the digital
world (Gavlas et al. 2017). Cloud-based solutions are
growing and enablers of industrial IoT environments such as
Siemens Mindsphere. By processing the data at the edge of
the network, edge computing assures peripherical and
decentralized decision capacity (Shi et al. 2016);
Microcontrollers like Arduino or Raspberry PI are cheap
options to track and acquire data in IoT environments,
however still lack the reliability or robustness of industrial
platforms, without maintenance contracts or certification.
 2019 IFAC MIM
Berlin, Germany, August 28-30, 2019 Tiago Coito et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 52-13 (2019) 1825–1830 1827
SIMATIC IoT2040, an Arduino inside a Siemens shell from
2016 offers IP20 protection, yet far from the IP65/67 offered
by standard PLCs (Gavlas et al. 2017).
The Open Platform Communications-Unified Architecture
(OPC-UA) is platform agnostic and the standard industrial
automation communication platform used to exchange data
between software and devices in real-time, allowing machine
to machine communication (Figueiredo and Sá da Costa
2012; Faller and Höftmann 2018). An OPC Server is used to
translate the data received into the OPC Protocol, either from
PLCs, HMIs, PCs or software applications. OPC Clients can
then be used to request and interpret data from OPC Servers.
An OPC Server/Client configuration can be used to exchange
data between PLCs and databases via PROFINET (Industrial
Ethernet) under TCP/IP protocols. OPC UA used in
embedded system devices is an enabler for the IoT
architectures (Cavalieri, Salafia, and Scroppo 2019).
3. INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION FRAMEWORK
3.1. Intelligent Automation Features
The successful development of a framework for intelligent
automation relies on how effectively all the features of the
data acquisition and management problem are accounted for.
Features can range from architecture and applicational to
organizational (European Parliment 2016). This paper
proposes guidelines for the following Features:
Interoperability: The capacity of one system to be integrated
with other systems. Interfaces should make use of standards
and communication protocols to connect and exchange
information into meaningful results. Cyber-physical systems
are examples of systems requiring these interactions (Faller
and Höftmann 2018);
Virtualization: The creation of digital twins or replicas of
the physical environment (Liu et al. 2018). Simulation
models are useful to analyse the behaviour of complex
systems, such as manufacturing plants, under different
scenarios and environments. The process of converting
information into the digital format can also be called
digitalization;
Visualization: The interface between the systems and the
users. The layout and the design of the HMIs, applicational
front-ends and business intelligence dashboards should be
clear, flexible, of easy access, fast and responsive;
Traceability: The ability to track and monitor the resources
over its entire life-cycle in real-time. This is delivered by an
architecture where identification systems have a role to play;
Decentralization: The ability of decision support systems to
make decisions of their own. Such systems can be local or
remote cloud-based approaches. Software implementations
may include reactive and predictive analytics such as
predictive maintenance, compliance check or dynamic
scheduling (Schäfer 2004);
Real-Time: The capacity to acquire information, analyse and
deliver insights immediately. The infrastructure and the
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architecture should be prepared to handle real-time streams of
information exchange. Bypassing layers of the automation
pyramid foster more agile approaches;
Modularity: The flexible integration of new modules or the
adaptation of existing ones by changes in the requirements;
Systems should be decomposed into smaller and independent
subsystems, reducing overall complexity;
Level of Access: The bureaucracy of data access policies.
Periodically moving the necessary data into applicational data
warehouses minimizes risks by preserving data integrity.
Security concerns can also be reduced by moving systems
into the cloud;
Knowledge Management: The internal knowledge should
not reside only with key people. Information should flow.
Keeping documentation up to date is very important.
3.2. Data Characteristics
Intelligent automation architectures must reflect its data
requirements. Data can be commonly defined by its Volume,
Velocity and Variety, known as the 3Vs of big data (Larson
and Chang 2016), other authors include Veracity or even
Value, making it the 5Vs. There are other classifications like
the 10Vs or the 10Bigs (Sun 2018). This paper proposes
guidelines for the following characteristics:
Quantity: Records may have no periodicity, like production
orders or event-based triggers, but can also be periodic with
high granularity requirements, for example within the second
timeframe. The volume of data generated may require an
ever-growing and changing infrastructure. The architecture of
the data model must be properly prepared for scaling, moving
data into metadata alternatives and including database
indexation;
Frequency: The speed at which data must be saved,
processed and delivered. Lower frequencies are often used to
fetch information from databases and/or data warehouses,
while higher are common in applications set to track, perform
analysis and deliver results in real-time settings. Real-time is
becoming standard in industry applications. It is necessary to
find the compromise between the processing capabilities of
each frequency and what is possible. The ever-changing
threshold of what granularity is a must and what is not. What
should be treated as historical data and what is still relevant;
Variety: Data types may be simple and well-structured tables
with numbers, text and datetimes or complex with
unstructured data coming from audio, image, video or other
files. All the data required to run an application should be
fetched, pre-processed and brought together into a single
structured data model;
Complexity: Referred to the dimensionality of the data and
how it is intertwingled and interconnected. The architecture
of the data model must be modular and flexible so that there
will be no need to scratch around it later. Parameterization is
essential instead of hard coding to allow the integration of
new requirements;
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Quality: Data can have many errors that affect its usability. It
may be unpredictable, variable and with too many outliers.
Can have gaps and peaks such as resulting from power downs
and connection failures. It may be inaccurate, redundant or
untrustworthy such as when introduced by human hand.
Architectures should include logs and protection mechanisms
to ensure quality in the data acquisition and management.
3.3. Industrial Approach
The design of the data model should accommodate all
features and the data characteristics of intelligent automation
systems, observing application requirements. Requirements
Engineering (RE) balances technical, social and
organizational requirements while modelling the operation
environment of the system. The creation of common
languages and adoption of standards supports Service
Oriented Architectures (SOA). The functional analyses and
the specification of workflows can be supported by Business
Process Modelling and Notation (BPMN) tools. BPMs
deliver a graphical representation on the flow of the business
processes. This is particularly useful to ensure vision
alignment when the business is complex and there is little
documentation. The development of Petri Nets is a common
The framework integrates all automation layers, such as
MES, SCADA, PLCs and PCs into the MIA. It also
integrates enterprise technologies like the ERP. MIA includes
cloud functionalities, big data warehousing and integration
software. Due to its interoperability, clients can interact with
all applications through MIA. This framework supports
multiple MIA solutions in the same production site, each with
its own application requirements.
4. IMPLEMENTATION EXAMPLES
4.1. MIA applied to Wood Industry
Each machine, within this industry, sorts thousands of units
each day with the help of an integrated vision system that
classifies each unit. These units go through different sorting
stages, each stage results in containers of intermediate or
final products. Quality is an important feature, as these units
can be classified with defects at each stage. There can be a
few hundred machines in each production site, with several
lines. Each PLC is connected to a single production line. The
implementation of this architecture is in Fig. 3.
ERP DB 1 DB N

...
approach to validate automation mechanics. The agile
software development is a collaborative effort between the
company, the costumers and outsourced talent towards the MIA
development of solutions (Larson and Chang 2016).

3.4. Middleware for Intelligent Automation (MIA) BD MES 1 BD MES Z

...
OPC Client OPC Client
Analysing the intelligent automation features and the data
characteristics, the traditional Automation Pyramid does not Decision Decision
fit some basic requirements. Intelligent automation needs to Support System Support System
exchange, in real-time, information with all layers of the
pyramid, simultaneously. The challenge of data acquisition
and management demands a more dynamic and flexible Client Client
approach. Faller supports this claim saying that the Software Software
... ...
automation pyramid will not remain as it is. New dedicated
systems will emerge, however the content of the layers in the
pyramid will continue to exists (Faller and Höftmann 2018). Client Client
Software Software
The proposal of this paper is to address this problem through
the creation of middleware software to meet each application
particular requirements as can be seen in Fig. 2.
OPC Server OPC Server
ERP
...

...

Tracking Tracking Tracking Tracking

...

...

MES Controller Controller Controller Controller

Cloud Functionalities
Big Data Warehousing
SCADA
Integration Software
I/O I/O
Fig. 2. Intelligent Automation Framework.
Decision
I/O I/O I/O I/O
Support System
Fig. 3. MIA applied to Wood Industry.
In this architecture, to ensure that there was no interference
between the control and the tracking system, a tracking PLC
was installed to feed on the same signals of the controller
PLC. An OPC server was installed on a remote server to read
the signals from all the tracking PLCs. A second server was
created with the MES installation, containing the database,

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the application software and an OPC Client connected to the
OPC Server. Production orders, events and business
intelligence were delivered to the shop floor through
dashboards and a web-based front-end. Production orders
were regularly fed from the ERP, through the MIA. N is the
number of databases, Z the number of sites running MES
applications under the same MIA, M and K the number of
client computers in each MES implementation, P and Q the
number of PLCs in each production site.
After analysing the production records, it was possible to
point out that there were frequent deviations in the expected
proportions on the outputs of each sorting machine. Expected
proportions were calculated based on physical conditions and
empirical knowledge over the material to sort. These
deviations, resulting from bad classification conditions, were
responsible for considerable losses of production as they
would pass unnoticed until the end of the production. By
simply tracking in real-time the proportion of the outputs of
the last few thousand counts, it was possible to deliver insight
through a stack light indicating to the operator that he had to
adjust machine classification conditions, delivering reactive
maintenance by real-time data analysis.
4.2. MIA applied to Chemical Industry
In this example the industry has many labour-intensive
recipes and the resource management represents a challenge,
both of operators and machinery. Recipe orders can be
delivered in real-time and can be very different from each
other. Machine capabilities and operator competencies
determine what can be done by whom and where. The
implementation of this architecture is in Fig. 4.
ERP DB 1 DB N
...
In this architecture, real-time information of resources is
fetched from the environment through RFID and Barcode.
This information is compiled together with SCADA and the
planned production from the ERP into the MIA. The solution
delivers resource scheduling through optimization
algorithms, dynamically adjusting to real-time inputs. The
SCADA knowing beforehand the recipes manages to help the
operators to execute time-consuming tasks with its I/O
robotic automation module. N is the number of databases, M
the number of client computers in the implementation and R
I/O stands for Remote Input/output.
By tracking the resources in real-time, this architecture
provides a reliable source of information to dynamic
scheduling algorithms (Costigliola et al. 2017). The
timestamps tracked and delivered in real-time are a core asset
for the success of this implementation.
5. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a novel framework for intelligent automation is
proposed. The traditional Automation Pyramid does not cope
with today’s requirements for data exchange and
management in real-time. The introduction of a Middleware
for Intelligent Automation (MIA) that includes cloud
functionalities, big data warehousing and integration software
appears as an alternative to meet such requirements. Like
SCADA and MES, one site can have many multiple MIA,
each with its own application requirements. This paper
presents two real industrial implementation examples of the
Intelligent Automation Framework to acquire and manage
data using MIA.
In the MIA applied to the wood industry, the tracking system
delivered by MES allowed to record production data such as

counters and machine events, providing KPIs and intelligence

with a cloud-based approach. In this implementation the
MIA
information was exchanged directly between the PLCs and
MES via OPC, ensuring interoperability between equipment
and software. The decision support system provided reactive
Server maintenance by real-time data analysis and management of
SCADA BD Scheduling
Software stack lights in the shop floor via OPC write-back commands.
Decision The adoption of MES contributed to a paperless process, by
Support System
RFID Barcode removing the need to fill sheets with production records by
the end of each turn. Future work can be done with the data
Industrial currently being recorded, such as machine events, towards
Ethernet Client predictive maintenance. The architecture also ensures a
Software
... secure physical separation between the control and the
monitoring systems. Visualization was delivered through
browser to mobile devices, fixed stations and andon boards,
Client
Software
all connected to the web server of the MES application.
Information refresh rates in the dashboards including data
exchange with the PLCs, remote databases and the decision
system, had a cycle time of 1 second.
In the MIA applied to the chemical industry the Big Data
architecture provides information from the ERP and
RFID identification systems to an optimization and dynamic dual-
Barcode constraint scheduling problem. The scheduling tool was
I/O MODULE I/O
developed in Python, both for the web-based font-end and the
Fig. 4. MIA applied to Chemical Industry. algorithm. The performance of the MIA architecture was
bottlenecked by the algorithm in several minutes. As soon as

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the scheduled was delivered, the SCADA was able to start
recipes in less than 1 second. The implementation was also
supported by the development of a simulation tool where it
was possible to test different scenarios by changing the
available resources.
MIA framework addresses key intelligent automation
features such as interoperability, with its integration software,
real-time capacity, bypassing layers in the pyramid,
decentralization, through decision support systems,
traceability, using identification systems, and virtualization,
with the digitalization of production processes. MIA also
addresses key data characteristics such as quantity,
frequency, variety and complexity, with a cloud-based big
data warehouse architecture. To conclude, MIA framework
does not mean a single computer does all the job, the
middleware can be stretched into several nodes, one can run
the DBW while others can be running integration software or
support databases. In Fig. 3, the MES server also delivers the
decision support system.
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