# PLC identification for IEC 61499 implementation

Dylan Baptiste, Alexandre Parant, Ramla Saddem, Alexandre Philippot

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Dylan Baptiste, Alexandre Parant, Ramla Saddem, Alexandre Philippot. PLC identification for IEC 61499 implementation. 3ème Congrès Annuel de la SAGIP, SAGIP, May 2025, Mulhouse, France. hal-05115113

HAL Id: hal-05115113

https://hal.science/hal-05115113v1

Submitted on 16 Jun 2025

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Société d'Automatique,
de Génie Industriel & de Productique

# PLC identification for IEC 61499 implementation

Dylan Baptiste¹, Alexandre Parant², Ramla Saddem¹, Alexandre Philippot¹

¹Université Reims Champagne-Ardenne, CReSTIC UR3804, Reims, France

²CESI, LINEACT, Reims, France

**Mots-clés :** *Identification, Finite State Machine, IEC61499 function block.*

Abstract IEC 61131-3 standard languages are used predominantly in the development and implementation of production system controls. Control systems based on these languages often have a monolithic structure that is poorly suited to modification or reuse in another application and that is implemented on obsolete hardware. IEC 61499 standard provides models for the development of distributed control systems that can be implemented on Industry 4.0-compliant embedded systems. The aim of this paper is to address the problem of transitioning systems based on IEC 61131-3 to IEC 61499 systems with identical behavior without having access to the original code and without losing knowledge. This approach uses learning algorithms to model the behavior of production systems in a Finite-State Machine (FSM) using observation traces generated by the system. A transformation model is presented for converting the FSM into IEC 61499 function block (FB) in order to obtain an application with identical behavior to the original. This method is evaluated on the reconstruction of the control of a simulated production system.

## 1 Introduction

Modern production systems are undergoing a technological upheaval brought about by Industry 4.0. Centralized control systems based on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) are gradually being transformed into distributed systems on embedded controllers. PLCs are mainly programmed with IEC 61131-3 languages that have limitations in distribution and control reconfiguration. To overcome this problem, IEC 61499 is a standard that provides architectural models to distribute the control system through several controllers [1]. IEC 61499 is gaining interest on the industrial side but is faced with (1) the high number of existing systems based on IEC 61131-3, (2) the low demand for a new design approach and (3) the high cost of introducing new technologies [2]. In this context, many methods have been proposed to redesign IEC 61131-3 systems into IEC 61499 systems, such as model-to-model transformation [3] or reuse rules [4]. The previous methods require some modifications to adapt the IEC 61499 code due to runtime differences with IEC 61131-3 languages. Campanelli et al present a solution to integrate IEC 61499 code in parallel execution of the existing PLC code with a communication interface to ensure interoperability [5]. These different methods require reengineering of existing code that can take a lot of time and effort despite the ability to automate the transformation process. This assumes that practitioners still have access to the original code. This assumption is not
always true because automation software has a lifespan of several years, and the developers are no longer necessarily present in the company. The code may also have undergone changes that have not been annotated. One solution to this problem is to be able to identify the control law from simple observations of the system to be controlled. In this paper, we propose to use the data generated by the sensors and actuators of a production system to build a Finite State Machine (FSM) that reproduces its behavior. Our approach uses different identification algorithms to find the control laws of the existing IEC 61131-3 code without having access to them. A transformation method converts the generated FSM into IEC 61499 Function Blocks (FB).

Références

[1] International Electrotechnical Commission et al. Iec 61499-1: Function blocks-part 1 architecture. Int. Stand. First Ed. Geneva, 1, 2005.

[2] Guolin Lyu and Robert William Brennan. Towards iec 61499-based distributed intelligent automation: A literature review. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 17(4):2295–2306, 2020.

[3] Monika Wenger, Alois Zoitl, Christoph Sunder, and Heinrich Steininger. Transformation of iec 61131-3 to iec 61499 based on a model driven development approach. In 2009 7th IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics, pages 715–720, 2009.

[4] Monika Wenger and Alois Zoitl. Re-use of iec 61131-3 structured text for iec 61499. In 2012 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, pages 78–83, 2012.

[5] Stefano Campanelli, Pierfrancesco Foglia, and Cosimo Antonio Prete. An architecture to integrate iec 61131-3 systems in an iec 61499 distributed solution. Computers in Industry, 72:47–67, 2015.