Structure of an Industry 4.0 Compliant Architecture Component for the Development of Simulation-based Control Applications in Cyber-Physical Systems

The design and implementation of Cyber-Physical Systems demand the presence of an architecture that takes into account a number of requirements. This includes the demand of Cyber-Physical Systems to be able to interact with their environment, which requires an architecture component that handles control tasks in a general manner. This paper outlines such an architecture component that is specific to simulation-based control approaches within Cyber-Physical Systems. It is composed of a collection of building blocks whose roles and interconnections are identified within the Reference Architecture Model Industry 4.0 to motivate its applicability in the context of Industry 4.0. As a self-contained architecture component, it fits well into a number of architectures for Cyber-Physical Systems that have emerged in the recent years. Two use-cases are presented illustrating the practicability in distinct industrial scenarios.