Semantic communications between distributed cyber-physical systems towards collaborative automation for smart manufacturing

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is a crucial technology for collaborative manufacturing automation in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-empowered industrial networks. The new decentralized manufacturing automation paradigm features ubiquitous communication and interoperable interactions between machines. However, peer-to-peer (P2P) interoperable communications at the semantic level between industrial machines is a challenge. To address this challenge, we introduce a concept of Semantic-aware Cyber-Physical Systems (SCPSs) based on which manufacturing devices can establish semantic M2M communications. In this work, we propose a generic system architecture of SCPS and its enabling technologies. Our proposed system architecture adds a semantic layer and a communication layer to the conventional cyber-physical system (CPS) in order to maximize compatibility with the diverse CPS implementation architecture. With Semantic Web technologies as the backbone of the semantic layer, SCPSs can exchange semantic messages with maximum interoperability following the same understanding of the manufacturing context. A pilot implementation of the presented work is illustrated with a proof-of-concept case study between two semantic-aware cyber-physical machine tools. The semantic communication provided by the SCPS architecture makes ubiquitous M2M communication in a network of manufacturing devices environment possible, laying the foundation for collaborative manufacturing automation for achieving smart manufacturing. Another case study focusing on decentralized production control between machines in a workshop also proved the merits of semantic-aware M2M communication technologies.     

论矿山物联网的结构性平台与服务性平台

分析了目前煤矿综合自动化存在的主要问题,提出需采用物联网技术及其平台性来实现矿山物理世界的实时控制、精确管理和科学决策;指出矿山物联网的3层架构决定了矿山物联网是一种开放式平台,且该平台体现为结构性平台和服务性平台;提出矿山物联网的结构性平台应具有开放的感知层平台、开放的主干传输平台以及开放的应用基础平台;根据目前煤矿实际需求,介绍了矿山物联网服务性平台中的分布式监测监控底层服务平台、为第三方提供公共服务的平台、多学科协同工作平台以及云服务平台;最后指出结构性平台可确保服务性平台的有效实施,服务性平台有利于矿山不同专业在同一个公共平台上协同工作,形成一种新的基于物联网的协同工作模式,同时有利于将各种不同的应用服务集成到矿山物联网中,推动矿山安全生产所需服务的专业化发展。     

物流云服务——面向供应链的物流服务新模式*

为解决当前物流服务方式在推广应用方面的诸多瓶颈问题,在云计算、云制造、物联网、RFID等技术发展基础上,提出了一种面向供应链的物流服务新模式———物流云服务。给出了物流云服务的定义,分析了物流云服务区别于以往物流服务方式的创新特征,提出了物流云服务的业务架构和技术架构,讨论了实施物流云服务所需解决的关键技术和问题。最后,以汽车产业供应链物流为例,设计了汽车物流云服务模式,对物流云服务模式进行应用验证。     

Assessment of interoperability in cloud manufacturing

Cloud manufacturing is defined as a resource sharing paradigm that provides on-demand access to a pool of manufacturing resources and capabilities aimed at utilising geographically dispersed manufacturing resources in a service-oriented manner. These services are deployed via the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and its underlying IT infrastructure, architecture models, as well as data and information exchange protocols and standards. In this context, interoperability has been identified to be a key enabler for implementing such vertically or horizontally integrated cyber-physical systems for production engineering. Adopting an interoperability framework for cloud manufacturing systems enables an efficient deployment of manufacturing resources and capabilities across the production engineering life-cycle. In this paper, the authors investigate interoperability in the context of cloud manufacturing to identify the key parameters that determine whether or not a change-over from traditional cloud manufacturing to interoperable cloud manufacturing is financially viable for a given scenario of service providers and manufacturing orders. The results obtained confirm that interoperable cloud manufacturing systems cannot be considered a one-size-fits-all option. Rather, its applicability depends on a number of driving parameters that need to be analysed and interpreted to determine whether or not it provides a financially viable alternative to cloud manufacturing without an overarching interoperability framework.     

Development of a Hybrid Manufacturing Cloud

Cloud manufacturing is emerging as a novel business paradigm for the manufacturing industry, in which dynamically scalable and virtualised resources are provided as consumable services over the Internet. A handful of cloud manufacturing systems are proposed for different business scenarios, most of which fall into one of three deployment modes, i.e. private cloud, community cloud, and public cloud. One of the challenges in the existing solutions is that few of them are capable of adapting to changes in the business environment. In fact, different companies may have different cloud requirements in different business situations; even a company at different business stages may need different cloud modes. Nevertheless, there is limited support on migrating to different cloud modes in existing solutions. This paper proposes a Hybrid Manufacturing Cloud that allows companies to deploy different cloud modes for their periodic business goals. Three typical cloud modes, i.e. private cloud, community cloud and public cloud are supported in the system. Furthermore, it enables companies to set self-defined access rules for each resource so that unauthorised companies will not have access to the resource. This self-managed mechanism gives companies full control of their businesses and boosts their trust with enhanced privacy protection. A unified ontology is developed to enhance semantic interoperability throughout the whole process of service provision in the clouds. A Cloud Management Engine is developed to manage all the user-defined clouds, in which Semantic Web technologies are used as the main toolkit. The feasibility of this approach is verified through a group of companies, each of which has complex access requirements for their resources. In addition, a use case is carried out between customers and service providers. This way, optimal service is delivered through the proposed system.     

公共制造云服务平台架构及其支撑技术研究

为了能使量大面广的中小企业充分享受云制造的益处, 分析了公共制造云的运行原理, 搭建了一个面向中小企业的公共制造云服务平台架构, 并给出了其形式化描述。对平台所涉及的关键支撑技术如云制造资源管理、协同设计及QoS管理进行分析, 提出了基于多级递阶控制结构的云制造资源管理与监控模型, 以及在云制造基础设施之上构建了支持复杂产品设计、面向服务的虚拟协同设计环境。最后通过公共制造云服务平台运作模型说明了平台的应用性和示范性。     

Mobile cloud computing framework for a pervasive and ubiquitous environment

The increasing use of wireless Internet and smartphone has accelerated the need for pervasive and ubiquitous computing (PUC). Smartphones stimulate growth of location-based service and mobile cloud computing. However, smartphone mobile computing poses challenges because of the limited battery capacity, constraints of wireless networks and the limitations of device. A fundamental challenge arises as a result of power-inefficiency of location awareness. The location awareness is one of smartphone’s killer applications; it runs steadily and consumes a large amount of power. Another fundamental challenge stems from the fact that smartphone mobile devices are generally less powerful than other devices. Therefore, it is necessary to offload the computation-intensive part by careful partitioning of application functions across a cloud. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient location-based service (LBS) and mobile cloud convergence. This framework reduces the power dissipation of LBSs by substituting power-intensive sensors with the use of less-power-intensive sensors, when the smartphone is in a static state, for example, when lying idle on a table in an office. The substitution is controlled by a finite state machine with a user-movement detection strategy. We also propose a seamless connection handover mechanism between different access networks. For convenient on-site establishment, our approach is based on the end-to-end architecture between server and a smartphone that is independent of the internal architecture of current 3G cellular networks.     

企业云服务体系结构的参考模型与开发方法

服务与云计算范型的融合有助于大规模分布式软件的开发和应用,同时也为面向服务的软件工程带来了新的挑战。云计算的最大挑战是缺少事实上的标准或单一的体系结构方法,以满足企业将关键产品作为Internet上的云服务发布的应用需求。首先,针对企业云计算的业务特点,提出了一种企业云服务体系结构(Enterprise Cloud Service Architecture,ECSA)风格的通用和抽象参考模型,分析了该模型中的云服务、服务模式、服务消费者、管理、流程、质量属性、服务构件模型、服务匹配和交互模式匹配9个组件及其之间的关系,并讨论了它们中的角色。然后,提出了一个四阶段的ECSA迭代改进过程,该过程把云服务视为首要的类建模元素,通过解除云服务模型和来自目标构件配置之间的耦合,可实现相同云服务集的多种不同体系结构。最后,给出了一种基于该模型的期货程序化交易的私有云服务应用实例,用以展示该方法的可行性和有效性。     

Privacy-preserving data utilization in hybrid clouds

As cloud computing becomes prevalent, more and more sensitive data is being centralized into the cloud, which raises a new challenge on how to utilize the outsourced data in a privacy-preserving manner. Although searchable encryption allows for privacy-preserving keyword search over encrypted data, it could not work effectively for restricting unauthorized access to the outsourced private data. In this paper, aiming at tackling the challenge of privacy-preserving utilization of data in cloud computing, we propose a practical hybrid architecture in which a private cloud is introduced as an access interface between the data owner/user and the public cloud. Under this architecture, a data utilization system is provided to achieve both exact keyword search and fine-grained access control over encrypted data. Security and efficiency analysis for the proposed system are presented in detail. Then, further enhancements for this system are considered in two steps. (1) We show how to extend our system to support efficient fuzzy keyword search while overcoming the disadvantage of insignificant decryption in the existing privacy-preserving fuzzy keyword search scheme. (2) We demonstrate approaches to realize an outsourcing cryptographic access control mechanism and further reduce the computational cost at the data user side.     

面向云计算的数据中心网络体系结构设计

近年来,云计算技术的蓬勃发展为整个IT行业带来了巨大变革.传统数据中心网络拓扑构建方式及网络层控制平面的运行机制存在固化性,已经难以满足新形势下日益增长的高性能及高性价比需求,并且无法支持云环境下更加灵活的按带宽租赁数据中心网络的运营方式.因此,提出了一种通过低造价的可编程交换机来构建具有高连通性的非树状数据中心网络的方式,并设计了可编程交换机与服务器2.5层代理协同工作的基于凸优化的虚拟网络带宽控制管理机制,从而提供足够的灵活性以对资源虚拟化技术提供更好的支持.实验表明,新型体系结构在降低构建成本的同时大幅提高了数据中心网络的吞吐量并提供了更加灵活的网络带宽分配机制.     

A sales agent for part manufacturers: VMSA

The sales activity of most parts manufacturing companies is based on orders of buyers. The process of promotion, receipt and selection of orders of the parts manufacturers is closely coupled with the load status of the production lines. On deciding whether to accept an order or not, as well as negotiating with buyers, sales persons need information such as load and schedule of production lines, and manufacturability of the order. Manufacturability analysis, process planning, and scheduling are therefore key features in developing an agent of sales activity for the parts manufacturing business. In this paper, an intelligent agent, a virtual manufacturing-based sales agent (VMSA) with multi-agent architecture is proposed to support the sales activity for the parts manufacturers in the Internet environment. A VMSA has an integrated architecture of agent and virtual manufacturing. The prototype of VMSA has been developed for a machine parts manufacturing company that has lathe machines, drilling machines, cutting machines, and milling machines.     

Multi-tenant intrusion detection system for public cloud (MTIDS)

Cloud computing is an innovative paradigm technology that is known for its versatility. It provides many creative services as requested, and it is both cost efficient and reliable. More specifically, cloud computing provides an opportunity for tenants to reduce cost and raise effectiveness by offering an alternative method of service utilization. Although these services are easily provided to tenants on demand with minor infrastructure investment, they are significantly exposed to intrusion attempts since the services are offered under the administration of diverse supervision over the Internet. Moreover, the security mechanisms offered by cloud providers do not take into consideration the variation of tenants’ needs as they provide the same security mechanism for all tenants. So, meeting tenants’ security requirements are still a major challenge for cloud providers. In this paper, we concentrate on the security service offered to cloud tenants and service providers and their infrastructure to restrain intruders. We intend to provide a flexible, on-demand, scalable, and pay-as-you-go multi-tenant intrusion detection system as a service that targets the security of the public cloud. Further, it is designed to deliver appropriate and optimized security taking into consideration the tenants’ needs in terms of security service requirements and budget.     

Modeling of service agents for simulation in cloud manufacturing

Cloud Manufacturing is a paradigm of intelligent manufacturing system with information opening, resource sharing, and diversified services. In order to research the issues in cloud manufacturing, such as behaviors of a service provider and service consumer, matching of service, dynamic change of resource, verification of business model, scheduling of service and evolution of service network, cloud manufacturing simulation platform is widely applied. However, the method of simulation-based on agent or rule lacks to represent the characteristics of service in cloud manufacturing. This paper presents a method of integrating the service and agent to form a service agent. The service agent integrates intelligence to the service in cloud manufacturing so that it can trade autonomously and adapt itself to the environment. A simulation case of production takt is presented in the rear of the paper. It shows that the conceptual model of the service agent and the communication architecture of the service agent can build the service agent model, which can support the cloud manufacturing simulation platform.     

Model-driven migration of supervisory machine control architectures

Supervisory machine control is the high-level control in advanced manufacturing machines that is responsible for the coordination of manufacturing activities. Traditionally, the design of such control systems is based on finite state machines. An alternative, more flexible approach is based on task-resource models. This paper describes an approach for the migration of supervisory machine control architectures towards this alternative approach. We propose a generic migration approach based on model transformations that includes normalisation of legacy architectures before their actual transformation. To this end, we identify a number of key concerns for supervisory machine control and a corresponding normalised design idiom. As such, our migration approach constitutes a series of model transformations, for which we define transformation rules. We illustrate the applicability of this model-driven approach by migrating (part of) the supervisory control architecture of an advanced manufacturing machine: a wafer scanner developed by ASML. This migration, towards a product-line architecture, includes a change in architectural paradigm from finite state machines to task-resource systems.     

基于开源软件的云监控平台设计与实现

最近几年,基于云计算的互联网服务迅速增长,数据中心的基础设施和应用资源不断增加。需要及时、高效的监控和管理资源的可用性,保证云服务的可靠性。通过对云监控的内容和特性的研究,提出一种管理云计算资源的云监控系统架构,重点对分布式架构、逻辑处理模块和云监控接口进行设计,实例中完成对私有云中物理主机、虚拟机、应用服务的批量监控,实现数据的存储和展示。     

From classic CNC systems to cloud-based technology and back

The transition to cloud-based technology in the field of CNC systems requires significant changes to the architecture of the control system, which is associated with a partial loss of funds already invested in its development. The paper suggests an approach to the architectural organization of the CNC system modules, which allows reconfiguring the control system on-the-fly in order to form any of the possible solutions: the classical layout of the CNC system, the extended layout (using an external interpolator), or the cloud layout of the CNC system. Experimental studies were carried using the 3-axis machining of parts on a milling machine with the cloud layout of the CNC system.     

Cost-Aware and SLO-Fulfilling Software as a Service

Virtualization technology makes data centers more dynamic and easier to administrate. Today, cloud providers offer customers access to complex applications running on virtualized hardware. Nevertheless, big virtualized data centers become stochastic environments and the simplification on the user side leads to many challenges for the provider. He has to find cost-efficient configurations and has to deal with dynamic environments to ensure service level objectives (SLOs). We introduce a software solution that reduces the degree of human intervention to manage clouds. It is designed as a multi-agent system (MAS) and placed on top of the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) layer. Worker agents allocate resources, configure applications, check the feasibility of requests, and generate cost estimates. They are equipped with application specific knowledge allowing it to estimate the type and number of necessary resources. During runtime, a worker agent monitors the job and adapts its resources to ensure the specified quality of service—even in noisy clouds where the job instances are influenced by other jobs. They interact with a scheduler agent, which takes care of limited resources and does a cost-aware scheduling by assigning jobs to times with low costs. The whole architecture is self-optimizing and able to use public or private clouds. Building a private cloud needs to face the challenge to find a mapping of virtual machines (VMs) to hosts. We present a rule-based mapping algorithm for VMs. It offers an interface where policies can be defined and combined in a generic way. The algorithm performs the initial mapping at request time as well as a remapping during runtime. It deals with policy and infrastructure changes. An energy-aware scheduler and the availability of cheap resources provided by a spot market are analyzed. We evaluated our approach by building up an SaaS stack, which assigns resources in consideration of an energy function and that ensures SLOs of two different applications, a brokerage system and a high-performance computing software. Experiments were done on a real cloud system and by simulations.     

Software consolidation as an efficient energy and cost saving solution

Virtual machines (VM) are used in cloud computing environments to isolate different software. They also support live migration, and thus dynamic VM consolidation. This possibility can be used to reduce power consumption in the cloud. However, consolidation in cloud environments is limited due to reliance on VMs, mainly due to their memory overhead. For instance, over a 4-month period in a real cloud located in Grenoble (France), we observed that 805 VMs used less than 12% of the CPU (of the active physical machines). This paper presents a solution introducing dynamic software consolidation. Software consolidation makes it possible to dynamically collocate several software applications on the same VM to reduce the number of VMs used. This approach can be combined with VM consolidation which collocates multiple VMs on a reduced number of physical machines. Software consolidation can be used in a private cloud to reduce power consumption, or by a client of a public cloud to reduce the number of VMs used, thus reducing costs. The solution was tested with a cloud hosting JMS messaging and Internet servers. The evaluations were performed using both the SPECjms2007 benchmark and an enterprise LAMP benchmark on both a VMware private cloud and Amazon EC2 public cloud. The results show that our approach can reduce the energy consumed in our private cloud by about 40% and the charge for VMs on Amazon EC2 by about 40.5%.