Towards an integrated plant engineering process using a data conversion tool for AutomationML

The development process of modern automated manufacturing plants requires a concurrent engineering process that integrates different engineering disciplines. Envisioning a concurrent development process, we propose an engineering process based on an AutomationML metamodel. The proposed metamodel contains standardized mechatronic component models, which acts as the base engineering data for the disciplines and the tools involved in the process. Since the tools operate on discipline-specific data structures, a data conversion tool is introduced which parses AutomationML mechatronic model and produces specific data interpretable by the tool employed. The benefits of this approach are evaluated by generating an automation project in CODESYS Application Composer, employing the metamodel and data conversion tool with the proposed engineering process.