Different perspectives [Face to face; "IEC 61499 architecture for distributed automation: The `"glass half full" view

Abstract

Control software is the main element in today’s industrial automation systems for providingthe correct and save operation of the automation process. Furthermore such requirements asflexibility, adaptability, or robustness, envisaged in the visionary study from the Iacocca Institute[1], largely increase the complexity of the control software. Therefore, new means for developingcontrol software are necessary. With the new family of standards for distributed automationsystems, called IEC 61499 [2], [3], and [4], the International Electrotechical Commission tried tofulfill these new and upcoming demands. The standard is available since 2005, and has attractedsubstantial research attention, resulted in many publications (see survey in [5]), and severalreference implementations [6]. However, its industrial adoption is rather low. Main reasons of theslow adoption are unresolved semantic issues [7], [8], lack of clear application and developmentguidelines, and missing industrial grade implementation platforms [5].The standard’s text is hard to read and contains some ambiguities [7]. Furthermore onlylimited tutorial information on IEC 61499 is available. Just two books explaining the ideas ofIEC 61499 were published to the date: [9] and [10], the first being a little outdated as it considersthe first draft version of the standard. This led to many misconceptions of the standard’s ideasand contradicting conclusions of the researchers on the role and place of the standard in futureindustrial automation. For that reason the majority of control device vendors and users (e.g.,control engineers) still cannot appreciate the advantages of using IEC 61499.This article attempts to bring some insight into the concepts and models of IEC 61499 bydiscussing and analyzing common misconceptions. Especially we focus on two issues: model-ing of distribution and architecture-centric design, which have not got substantial attention ofresearchers so far. Our analysis points out future research directions for increasing the adoptionrate of IEC 61499.