Test engines for the asset administration shell
-
Björn Otto
and
Tobias Kleinert
Abstract
The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) is a standard for Digital Twins, a key element of Industry 4.0. In order to realize interoperability as its central prerequisite, manufacturers must implement the formal AAS metamodel specification correctly down to the last detail. To ensure this, conformance testing procedures should be defined and carried out as appropriate quality measures. This article presents comprehensive approaches to carry out formalized metamodel conformance tests for the AAS and its software components by describing the AAS Test Engines. First, the AAS software ecosystem is analyzed providing a systematic categorization of existing AAS software components. Based on these findings, basic building blocks and test setups needed for AAS conformance testing are identified. Then, implementation of these building blocks in the AAS Test Engines is described. Finally, usage, findings and limits of the presented methods based on a real-world case study from the AAS community are illustrated.
Zusammenfassung
Die Verwaltungsschale (VWS) ist ein Standard für Digitale Zwillinge, einem Schlüsselelement von Industrie 4.0. Um Interoperabilität als zentrale Voraussetzung zu realisieren, müssen die Hersteller den VWS-Standard bis ins letzte Detail korrekt umsetzen. Um dies sicherzustellen, sollten Konformitätstestverfahren als geeignete Qualitätsmaßnahmen definiert und durchgeführt werden. In diesem Artikel werden umfassende Ansätze zur Durchführung von Konformitätstests für die VWS und ihre Softwarekomponenten vorgestellt, indem die AAS Test Engines beschrieben werden. Zunächst wird das Software-Ökosystem der VWS analysiert und eine systematische Kategorisierung der vorhandenen VWS-Softwarekomponenten vorgenommen. Basierend auf diesen Erkenntnissen werden grundlegende Bausteine und Testaufbauten identifiziert, die für VWS-Konformitätstests benötigt werden. Anschlieβend wird die Implementierung dieser Bausteine in den AAS Test Engines beschrieben. Abschlieβend werden Anwendung, Ergebnisse und Grenzen der vorgestellten Methoden anhand einer realen Fallstudie aus der VWS-Community erläutert.
About the authors
Björn Otto graduated in Computer Science at TU Braunschweig. He is currently doing research in the field of test methods for distributed systems. Additionally, he is the main developer of the AAS Test Engines.
Tobias Kleinert studied Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and received the Doctorate at Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (Prof. Jan Lunze, Automation and Computer Control). After employment at BASF, he became professor at the Chair of Information and Automation Systems for Process and Material Technology.
-
Research ethics: Not applicable.
-
Informed consent: Not applicable.
-
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
-
Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
-
Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
-
Research funding: None declared.
-
Data availability: Not applicable.
References
[1] Specification of the Asset Administration Shell, Part 1: Metamodel. Industrial Digital Twin Association, 2024.Search in Google Scholar
[2] Specification of the Asset Administration Shell, Part 2: Application Programming Interfaces. Industrial Digital Twin Association, 2024.Search in Google Scholar
[3] IEC 63278-1:2023: Asset Administration Shell for Industrial Applications – Part 1: Asset Administration Shell Structure, 2023.Search in Google Scholar
[4] J. Carmona, B. Dongen, A. Solti, and M. Weidlich. “Conformance checking: relating processes and models,” 2018.10.1007/978-3-319-99414-7Search in Google Scholar
[5] Industrial Digital Twin Association, “AAS test engines”. https://github.com/admin-shell-io/aas-test-engines [accessed: Apr. 22, 2024].Search in Google Scholar
[6] H. Kubicek, A. Breiter, and J. Jarke, “Daten, metadaten, interoperabilität,” Handbuch digitalisierung in staat und verwaltung, pp. 1–13, 2019.10.1007/978-3-658-23669-4_1-1Search in Google Scholar
[7] Plattform Industrie 4.0, “Functional view of the asset administration shell in an industrie 4.0 system environment,” Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, 2021.Search in Google Scholar
[8] A. Deuter and S. Imort, “Plm/alm integration with the asset administration shell,” Procedia Manuf., vol. 52, pp. 234–240, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2020.11.040.Search in Google Scholar
[9] I. Garmaev, T. H. Miny, T. T. Kleinert, A. Schüller, and P. D. Bitterlich, “Concept and realization for the automatic creation of asset administration shells in companies based on exisiting data from different information systems,” in Automation 2022: 23. Leitkongress der Mess- und Automatisierungstechnik.Search in Google Scholar
[10] B. Vogel-Heuser, et al.., “Challenges for software engineering in automation,” J. Software Eng. Appl., p. 2014, 2014.Search in Google Scholar
[11] A. Löcklin, M. Müller, T. Jung, N. Jazdi, D. White, and M. Weyrich, “Digital twin for verification and validation of industrial automation systems–a survey,” in 2020 25th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), IEEE, 2020, vol 1, pp. 851–858.10.1109/ETFA46521.2020.9212051Search in Google Scholar
[12] S. Rösch, S. Ulewicz, J. Provost, and B. Vogel-Heuser, “Review of model-based testing approaches in production automation and adjacent domains-current challenges and research gaps,” J. Software Eng. Appl., vol. 08, pp. 499–519, 2015, https://doi.org/10.4236/jsea.2015.89048.Search in Google Scholar
[13] M. Grochowski, M. Völker, and S. Kowalewski, “Automatic test suite generation for plc software in the internet of production,” in 2022 IEEE 27th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), IEEE, 2022, pp. 1–8.10.1109/ETFA52439.2022.9921726Search in Google Scholar
[14] N. Braunisch, M. Ristin-Kaufmann, R. Lehmann, and H. W. van de Venn, “Generative and model-driven sdk development for the industrie 4.0 digital twin,” in 2021 26th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), IEEE, 2021, pp. 1–4.10.1109/ETFA45728.2021.9613164Search in Google Scholar
[15] Eclipse BaSyx. https://github.com/eclipse-basyx [Accessed: May.08, 2024].Search in Google Scholar
[16] AAS compliance tool. https://github.com/rwth-iat/aas-compliance-tool [Accessed: May 08, 2024].Search in Google Scholar
[17] F. Pezoa, J. L. Reutter, F. Suarez, M. Ugarte, and D. Vrgoč, “Foundations of json schema,” in Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on World Wide Web, 2016, pp. 263–273.10.1145/2872427.2883029Search in Google Scholar
[18] T. Miny, et al.., “Semi-Automatic testing of data-focused software development kits for industrie 4.0,” in 2022 IEEE 20th International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN), IEEE, 2022, pp. 269–274.10.1109/INDIN51773.2022.9976069Search in Google Scholar
[19] N. Braunisch, et al.., “Maturity evaluation of sdks for i4. 0 digital twins,” in 2023 IEEE 28th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), IEEE, 2023, pp. 1–8.10.1109/ETFA54631.2023.10275719Search in Google Scholar
[20] G. Fink and M. Bishop, “Property-based testing: a new approach to testing for assurance,” ACM SIGSOFT Soft. Eng. Notes, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 74–80, 1997, https://doi.org/10.1145/263244.263267.Search in Google Scholar
[21] M. Jacoby, et al.., “Open-source implementations of the reactive asset administration shell: a survey,” Sensors, vol. 23, no. 11, p. 5229, 2023, https://doi.org/10.3390/s23115229.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
[22] B. Otto, K. Meinecke, and T. Kleinert. “Model-based test case generation for compliance checking of reactive asset administration shells”.Search in Google Scholar
[23] D. Miller, J. Whitlock, M. Gardiner, M. Ralphson, and R. Ratovsky. “OpenAPI specification v3.1.0,” 2021.Search in Google Scholar
[24] Details of the Asset Administration Shell, Part 1 – The exchange of Information between Partners in the Value Chain of Industrie 4.0 (Version 3.0RC01), Plattform Industrie 4.0, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
[25] Details of the Asset Administration Shell Part 2 – Interoperability at Runtime – Exchanging Information via Application Programming Interfaces (Version 1.0RC01). Plattform Industrie 4.0, 2020.Search in Google Scholar
[26] M. Droettboom et al.. “Understanding json schema.” 2015, https://spacetelescope.github.io/understandingjsonschema/UnderstandingJSONSchema.pdf. [Accessed: Apr. 14, 2014].Search in Google Scholar
[27] Industrial Digital Twin Association, “AAS specs,” https://github.com/admin-shell-io/aas-specs [Accessed: Apr. 22, 2024].Search in Google Scholar
[28] B. Otto and T. Kleinert, “Test-Framework zur Qualitätssicherung von Verwaltungsschalen-SDKs,” in Automation 2023: 24. Leitkongress der Mess- und Automatisierungstechnik.10.51202/9783181024195-377Search in Google Scholar
[29] B. Otto and T. K. Fences, “Systematic sample generation for JSON schemas using boolean algebra and flow graphs,” in 2024 IEEE 46th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), IEEE, 2024.10.1145/3644032.3644451Search in Google Scholar
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Methods
- Quantifying and combining uncertainty for improving the behavior of Digital Twin Systems
- Dynamic reconfiguration of application and communication in Industry 4.0 with Digital Twin for enhancing flexibility
- Modelling of the NAMUR NE 178 “Verification of Request” concept using Pro-Active Asset Administration Shells
- A novel metric for 6D pose estimation
- Anwendungen
- Coordinated operation of pumped hydro energy storage with reversible pump turbine and co-located battery energy storage system
- Tools
- Test engines for the asset administration shell
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Methods
- Quantifying and combining uncertainty for improving the behavior of Digital Twin Systems
- Dynamic reconfiguration of application and communication in Industry 4.0 with Digital Twin for enhancing flexibility
- Modelling of the NAMUR NE 178 “Verification of Request” concept using Pro-Active Asset Administration Shells
- A novel metric for 6D pose estimation
- Anwendungen
- Coordinated operation of pumped hydro energy storage with reversible pump turbine and co-located battery energy storage system
- Tools
- Test engines for the asset administration shell
