3D Virtual commissioning on IEC61499: methods and technologies to streamline the simulation model development

The ever-increasing complexity of manufacturing plants demands for innovative technologies promoting the agile development of intelligent and flexible systems, capable of highly optimized performances, but also ready to evolve promptly according to the requirements of production. Industry 4.0 and its whole ecosystem of methodologies and technologies lay their basis on the assumption that no future development is possible without a tight integration between the mechatronic system and its digital counterpart. With such a background, dealing with distributed modular architectures of Cyber Physical Systems is mandatory, and the IEC 61499 standard for automation, its object oriented and event based approaches support this paradigm shift. The adoption of a virtual commissioning (VC) system can effectively improve the validation phase of the control application, providing immediate feedback and reducing significantly the amount of time needed to carry on physical tests on the real mechatronic system. However, currently creating a virtual commissioning model is still a complex and potentially expensive process that needs to be carried out by different professionals who must tightly cooperate to generate an effective playground for the automation testing. The main objective of this PhD is the engineering of a new way to the design and develop virtual commissioning models, improving the efficiency of the overall process of implementing 3D simulation digital twins for complex automated discrete manufacturing systems. The proposed approach, leveraging the synergies between modular simulation and automation technologies, aims at reducing the required interaction between competences, increasing the level of independence of the automation engineer and his productivity. This target requires the study and development of an holistic solution that encompasses all the stages involved in the implementation of a distributed CPS system, following the natural evolution of the control logics, from the early prototyping up to the final commissioning of the whole system and embracing the problem space from the perspectives of two main domains that compose a virtual commissioning model: the system engineering and its runtime execution. The proposed approach is based on the development of a proof of concept integrated engineering platform composed of software tools instrumented to cooperate for the joint production of virtual-commissioning-ready instances of CPS digital twins.