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4 Applying Agents for Plant Engineering The merits of modern component-based engineering approaches result from the idea to create an abstract model of the automation system. The engineering process itself is a transformation process of the engineer’s understanding about the automation system into a model of the system. In the depicted component-based approach this model is a static image of the automation system. The components are solely data containers for the engineering data (what from parts of the automation software can be generated). The transformation process is characterized by the specific challenges discussed in Section 3. Component-based engineering tools try to meet these challenges by supporting the transformation process by providing a set of engineering functionality. As the problem domain of automation systems and therefore the engineering process it self is quite multifaceted and complex, the functionality the tools have to provide is also extensive and complex (e.g. an “intelligent” copy-paste functionality for managing the dependencies when reusing model parts). It is arguable, if along with new challenges on the engineering process this functionality can be maintained. A basically different approach in supporting the engineering process is to proceed decisions and handling of engineering functionality in the place where the most information on the current situation (position, tasks, associations, dependencies) of a particular entity in the model is available: within the entity itself. Therefore a concept is needed that provides more than static data containers. The agent-oriented paradigm is a software paradigm that especially emphasizes the localization of knowledge and decision. In our understanding of agent-oriented software engineering, the concept of an agent is an “encapsulated (software) entity with a defined objective. An agent tries to reach it’s objective with autonomous actions and in doing so it can interact with it’s environment and other agents, while keeping a persistent state.1” Based on the agent concept a solution for the support of the engineering process can be developed, where the entities themselves perform the engineering functionality actively. Seeking this solution, the first step is analyzing the engineering of automation systems from an agent-oriented view. 4.1 Agent-Oriented Analysis of the Engineering Process
Agent-oriented analysis is the abstraction of a problem by means of agent concepts. In Section 2 the problem of engineering automation systems in plants was described in general. The main engineering activities, processes and goals can be regarded independently from a particular automation planning project. We can analyze these activities from an agent-oriented point of view. To this end, the concept of role analysis can be applied. In role analysis, the notion of a role focuses on the position and responsibilities of an entity within an overall structure or system [13]. Roles result from tasks a particular entity has to fulfill within the system, in order to provide the system’s overall functionality. Applying this concept to the problem of engineering automation systems, both the challenges in the engineering process as well as the characteristics of the industrial automation systems domain that influence these challenges 2 have to be regarded. In the description in Section 2 we can identify that nearly all engineering tasks have an association to some kind of real existing entity within the plant. Each entity is integrated in the plant in different ways, where different engineering activities have to be accomplished. Focussing on the entities within the plant we can identify roles that e.g. a particular device obtains during the engineering process. Table 1 shows an overview of these roles. The result of the agent-oriented analysis based on roles is an agent-oriented meta model of the engineering process. The overview in Table 1 shows the most important characteristic: the predominantly active elements in the engineering process are the
planned entities in the plant. In every engineering activity one or more entities are concerned and obtain one or more roles. Obtaining a role the entities handle data and accomplish activities. These planned entities are the same abstract elements as the technological components used as data-containers in the component-based engineering approach. On one hand, this shows that both approaches are reasonable ones for the plant engineering process. On the other hand, the component-based approach falls short in separating engineering data (within technological components) and engineering functionality (provided by the tool). However, engineering with technological components is familiar to the engineer’s way of thinking [7] and in most cases it is transparent to the user how a certain functionality in a tool is achieved. Therefore a combination of both approaches could bring the most value. Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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