A SysML representation of the wireless factory work cell: Enabling real-time observation and control by modeling significant architecture, components, and information flows

A fourth industrial revolution, occurring in global manufacturing, provides a vision of future manufacturing systems that incorporate highly dynamic physical systems, robust and responsive communications systems, and computing paradigms to maximize efficiency, enable mobility, and realize the promises of the digital factory. Wireless technology is a key enabler of that vision. A comprehensive graphical model is developed for a generic wireless factory work cell which employs the Systems Modeling Language (SysML), a standardized and semantically rich modeling language, to link the physical and network domains in such a cyber-physical system (CPS). The proposed model identifies the structural primitives, interfaces, and behaviors of the highly connected factory work cell in which wireless technology is used for significant data flows involved in control algorithms. The model includes the parametric definitions to encapsulate information loss, delay, and mutation associated with the wireless network, and it identifies pertinent wireless information flows.