MTPPy: Open-Source AI-friendly Modular Automation

Modular Automation offers promising technologies for the process and chemical industry. It meets the requirements for greater flexibility and a shorter development cycle for production facilities by dividing the process into smaller standardized units. Key element of Modular Automation is the Module Type Package (MTP). It represents a standardized and manufacturer-independent description of the automation interface for self-contained production units, or Process Equipment Assemblies (PEA), and endows the plug-and-produce capability of PEAs. Software solutions to program MTP compatible PEAs are mostly provided by the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) manufacturers. They are proprietary and bound to certain hardware and even programming languages. Therefore, their suitability for implementation of soft sensors based on data-driven advanced analytics is strongly limited. In this article we present an opensource Python package, MTPPy, designed for rapid prototyping of MTP-capable soft sensors with a focus on AI-based research applications. MTPPy is aimed at the accelerated deployment of soft sensors in the modular plants; thus, closing the gap between the data-driven model development and integration into the production.