Distributed Software Architecture Enabling Peer-to-Peer Communicating Controllers
This paper presents a novel model-driven software architecture for systems with high degree of redundancy and modularity of the equipment. The architecture is based on totally decentralized control. It combines adaptability and robustness of multiagent control architectures with portability and interoperability benefits of IEC 61499 function block architecture. The architecture has been successfully proven feasible on a number of field trials, including modeling and implementation of a medium-scale airport baggage handling control. Deployment was done on distributed networks consisting of configurations ranging from a few to dozens of communicating control nodes. The work confirmed the ability to deliver similar functional characteristics as centralized systems but in a distributed implementation. Performance testing and development verified sufficient performance and software life-cycle benefits.
iec 61499 distributed systems intelligent control