Interface Holons in the BASE Architecture for Human-System Integration in Cyber-Physical Systems

The Biography-Attributes-Schedule-Execution (BASE) architecture is a holonic reference architecture that was developed to integrate human workers into Industry 4.0 environments. The architecture guides the development of Human Resource Holon Administration Shells (BASE shells), which raise humans to a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) level so that they can interact with other CPSs. Existing research on the BASE architecture has already shown how interface services can be used to enable the cyber-physical interfacing between humans and their associated BASE shells. This paper extends this research by introducing dedicated Interface Holons in the BASE architecture. Interface Holons encapsulate interface services provided by cyber-physical interfacing resources, such as sensors, loudspeakers, augmented/virtual reality systems, etc. The details of the BASE architecture plugins required in Interface Holons are discussed. Furthermore, standard inter- and intra-holon communication protocols between the BASE shells of Interface Holons and Human Resource Holons are explained.