Decentralized Autonomous Architecture for Resilient Cyber-Physical Production Systems

Real-time decision-making is a key element in the transition from Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems to Autonomous Manufacturing Systems. In Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) and Cloud Manufacturing, most decision-making algorithms are either centralized, creating vulnerabilities to failures, or decentralized, struggling to reach the performance of the centralized counterparts. In this paper, we combine the performance of centralized optimization algorithms with the resilience of a decentralized consensus. We propose a novel autonomous system architecture for CPPS featuring an automatic production plan generation, a functional validation, and a two-stage consensus algorithm, combining a majority vote on safety and optimality, and a unanimous vote on feasibility and authenticity. The architecture is implemented in a simulation framework. In a case study, we exhibit the timing behavior of the configuration procedure and subsequent reconfiguration following a device failure, showing the feasibility of a consensus-based decision-making process.