Automated generation of structure variants for simulation models of production and logistics using combinatory logic

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jakob Rehof; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Sigrid Wenzel
• Subject Area: Production Systems, Operations Management, Quality Management and Factory Planning
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511349842

The planned research project focuses on simulation as a methodology of digital factory planning and at the same time as a central component of the digital twin in the context of planning adaptable production and logistics systems in the industry 4.0 era. The goal of the project is the development of a methodology for the automatic generation of structural variants from simulation models based on discrete event simulation and the possibility to control their structural variance using combinatorial logic. This methodology is intended to extend the current procedure for conducting simulation studies to include simulation aspects for structural variants of adaptable systems. In this way, the planner can automatically analyze and evaluate structural variants of adaptable systems with the help of simulation models and decide on the solution variant to be implemented (e.g. the best possible solution with regard to the relevant issues). The automated generation and analysis of different structural variants should also allow an efficient creation of model families and adaptations of the model structures. For the attainment of this purpose, requirements for the modelling and simulation of adaptable production systems will first be formulated based on literature research and expert surveys. Furthermore, simulation models and their structures will be analyzed and extended by requirements for the modelling of adaptable systems. Based on the results, reference simulation models are defined, modelling patterns are derived and a systematic collection of building components for the representation of model families of structural variance is developed.The implementation is based on the specification possibilities of synthesis approaches from the field of software product line generation. For this purpose, a taxonomy will be designed, which allows the structures, modules, components and rules for adaptable systems to be completely specified. Second, based on the taxonomy, a technology for the automatic composition of structural variants for adaptable simulation models in the field of production and logistics systems is being developed. Finally, generated families of structural variants for simulation models are created and evaluated in an experimental field for adaptable simulation models in the production and logistics environment. For the evaluation, a metric is proposed that enables an assessment of the structural variants with respect to performance indicators to be defined for adaptable production and logistics systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants