Modeling Information in Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems Using Multilayer Graphs

Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPSs) are regarded as the enabling technology of the ongoing fourth industrial revolution. Despite their recognized advantages, ICPSs face challenges that need to be addressed to unleash their full potential. Among these challenges is the standardization of information models. Currently, various industry standards are used for modeling information. However, these efforts primarily focus on describing the engineering and logic aspects of industrial processes, without considering all dimensions of an ICPS. As a step towards closing this gap, this work proposes a novel approach based on multilayer graphs to generate a flexible information model that addresses three key aspects of an ICPS: engineering, production flow, and automation. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a specific case study on a mineral processing plant is presented.