Methodological Approach for Developing Reconfigurable Automation Systems

One challenge for the designers of the current industrial control systems consists of assuring the system reconfiguration at runtime, envisaged at system design time. This article focuses specifically on the fault tolerance to controller failures (as it is the most complex challenge) aiming at redistributing the responsibilities at runtime in order to finish the current production plan. Its applicability is illustrated by means of a case study that consists of a reconfigurable control application based on the IEC 61131-3 for a flexible assembly cell. A prototype software tool guides the developer during the development process. This approach contributes to develop more flexible control systems because they can react in case of a controller failure, to increase the system availability during its operation and to reduce the production downtimes to perform the maintenance tasks.