An Open Data Model for Emulation Models of Industrial Components

Abstract: Emulation is a technology, historically mostly used for virtual commissioning of automated industrial systems, and operator training. Trends show that new areas for deployment are being investigated. One way to broaden the scope of emulation technology is to increase emulation detail level. The University of Skövde conduct research within emulation technology, and are developing a higher detail level emulation platform performing  on component level. For transparent and systematic development of component models on this level, an open, extensible, and flexible data model for emulation models of industrial components is wanted. This thesis is contributing to this endeavour by developing a first draft of such a data model. A demonstration is also conducted by implementing a few components into the developing emulation environment, using XML as file format. An iterative "design and creation" methodology was used to develop and implement an object oriented data model. A selected set of industrial components were used to develop and demonstrate the data model, and the final result is visually represented as a class diagram together with explanatory documentation. Using the methodology and data modelling strategy used in this thesis, systematic and transparent development of emulation models on component level is possible in an extensible and flexible manner.