Multi-Domain Modeling for Change Management in Cyber-Physical Production Systems Engineering

Abstract

To develop Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPSs), engineers from various domains work together from their respective work environments. However, exchanging arti-facts between these domain-specific views is hard, if the representations of similar concepts differ. This paper introduces the Multi-Domain Modeling for CPPS (MDM-CPPS) method to facilitate (i) defining view-specific local concepts; (ii) negotiating a common concept view for collaborating domains and their dependencies; and (iii) for reviewing the impact of local property changes on related domain views, based on established GitOps practices and on semantic analysis. We evaluated MDM-CPPS with a tool chain prototype in a feasibility study on an industrial use case. The study results indicate MDM-CPPS to provide (i) effective means for common system understanding, (ii) efficient change coordination, and (iii) effective CPPS asset management.