Model-driven engineering of Manufacturing Automation Software Projects – A SysML-based approach

TLDR

This paper proposes a SysML‑based approach to support model‑driven engineering of manufacturing automation software projects. The authors adapt SysML into a SysML‑AT profile that defines requirements, software applications, and hardware properties, and implement a prototypical tool that supports automated IEC 61131‑3 code generation, parametric diagram modeling, and runtime‑aware debugging. Evaluation through case studies and usability experiments demonstrated the suitability of the MDE approach for future users.

Abstract

This paper comprises a SysML-based approach to support the model-driven engineering (MDE) of Manufacturing Automation Software Projects (MASP). The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) is adapted to define the SysML-AT (SysML for automation), a specialized language profile that covers (non-)functional requirements, corresponding software applications and properties of proprietary hardware components. Furthermore, SysML-AT supports an automated software generation for run-time environments conforming to IEC 61131-3. A prototypical tool support was realized for adapted SysML Parametric Diagrams (PD) inside an industrial automation software development tool. Coupling the model editor and online data from the provided run-time environment enables direct debugging inside the model. The approach was evaluated by several case studies and additional usability experiments. With the latter, the suitability of the MDE approach for future users was proven.