3+1 SysML view model for IEC61499 Function Block control systems

The International Electrotechnical Commission has defined the IEC61499 Function Block model to address the challenges in the development of industrial automation systems. It is an attempt to exploit in this domain successful software engineering practices such as component and model driven development. However, for the development of this kind of systems, which are characterized as Mechatronics, there is a need for an integrated framework that will address the synergistic integration of its constituent parts, i.e. mechanics, electronics and software. In this paper, the System Modeling Language (SysML) is adopted and a framework is proposed for the synergistic integration of the three disciplines. The IEC61499 is used to model the software part while the Modelica modeling language is used to model the mechanics. The Festo MPS example application is used as case study to illustrate the applicability of the proposed framework. The whole framework is considered as a realization of the Model Integrated Mechatronics (MIM) paradigm.