Universal Automation: Enabling Systems Integrators with a Paradigm Shift in Industrial Automation

Summary

Across industrial operations we continue to see rapid advances in areas such as edge computing, artificial intelligence, secure connectivity, machine learning and advanced analytics. Yet the automation system and edge control at the heart of operational technology, which contains the data needed to generate the insights to balance sustainability, efficiency and profitability has remained fundamentally unchanged for the past 40 years.
 
System Integrators are working with these inflexible, closed automation systems with increasing pressure to cut engineering time, manage the complexity of working with different hardware and software systems, while ensuring interoperability of systems from different vendors.
 
A new approach to automation is needed to support industrial digital transformation and to continue to provide the agility to address the new needs of tomorrow. 
 

A new paradigm in industrial automation–universal automation

What is universal automation? It’s a software-defined paradigm shift that is changing the way industrial systems are designed, deployed and supported. It means software is decoupled from hardware to manage automation flexibly and efficiently for optimal business performance. So, it is a new category of control automation adopting the IT paradigm (events and data) while keeping OT requirements (performance and robustness).
 
Universal automation is the combination of two things:

1. A shared-source implementation of an automation standard (IEC 61499) for portability, reusability and distribution of applications across platforms.
2. An independent, not-for-profit association of users, vendors and academics managing that shared-source implementation. It is called UniversalAutomation.org, and is open to anyone willing to change the game of automation. 

The benefits of a software-defined approach for industrial automation

For Systems Integrators, this is an industrial automation platform that is easier to program, flexible in design, agile in deployment and portable across platforms. With app-like automation software components, universal automation provides system agility, operational efficiency, cross-platform support with native IT system integration, and data processing capabilities that were only previously available in the domain of IT.
 
By focusing on efficiency through the elimination of low-value, repetitive engineering tasks, a software-defined universal automation approach provides Systems Integrators with the ability to provide optimization and modernization without incurring prohibitive costs or disruption to critical production systems.
 
Systems Integrators can mix and match universal automation solutions, which means they are no longer held back by the closed or proprietary platforms that they have had to use over the last 40 years. Integral to this concept is a software-defined approach which is based on three key principles:

• Application-centric rather than device-centric enabling plug and produce control automation. Control application is developed first and then it is deployed to automation device(s) as needed. Whereas the traditional approach consists of first defining the architecture of the physical or virtual automation devices and then programming them one by one.
• Seamless IT/OT integration to combine right-time information with real-time control. It is seamless because IT and OT are now on the same paradigm of events and data. Integration is possible when IT and OT are not on the same paradigm but it’s far more complex.
• Model-based system approach resulting in low/no code automation. Only a few experts are needed to create the content of the components whereas the components can be assembled by more people with less skills. It enables reuse of software components independently of hardware.

 With this open, software-defined approach, Systems Integrators no longer need to think of individual devices, such as drives, PLCs and HMIs, as representing a single function. Instead, they can think of capabilities such control, computing, IO and display as open, scalable, agile, pooled resources residing on the automation network.  This next-generation technology presents several advantages that can be embraced in industrial operations projects:

1. Reusability. Universal automation brings an object-orientated approach where real-world automation assets and functions can be packaged into libraries and reused across disparate systems.
2. Managed complexity. The unlimited, encapsulated nesting of function blocks within composite blocks helps manage complexity through the composition of simpler, proven-in-use software components.
3. Disciplined structure. Systems integrators can integrate blocks using a well-defined external interface that is independent of both block contents and the programming language used to create them. This helps encapsulate and protect intellectual property within an IEC 61499 function block or network of function blocks.
4. Flexibility. Architectures can be both distributed and centralized and can manage any variation in between. The applications are just as valid running on a single, high-powered, centralized controller as they are spread transparently across multiple, low-power network connected devices.
5. Connected. Automation functions and services are transparently available between IEC 61499 devices connected on the network regardless of location or type. IO, control, HMI, or other functions communicate natively via a bandwidth-efficient event-driven pub/sub communications model.

New opportunities for Systems Integrators

For systems integrators, universal automation optimizes engineering workflow and addresses complex, software-defined, interconnected challenges. It helps reduce engineering complexity, which in turn reduces project risk, speeds up ROI, and allows for greater value within cost constraints for their customers. Universal automation also brings the fundamental adoption of object-oriented programming techniques into the world of automation and industrial operations:

• Encapsulation means that System Integrators can encapsulate their knowledge and best practices within libraries, protect their intellectual property, leading to costs savings.
• Object orientation enables reusability of library and software components across various projects, ensuring consistency, rapid development and less risk.
• Universal automation and the Open Standard approach provide a neutrality that enables different automation devices and software systems to communicate. This reduces costs by simplifying the integration process, reducing the need for custom connectors or adapters.
• Digital continuity helps streamline requirements and facilitates the collaborative process, allowing System Integrators to efficiently capture, track and manage evolving requirements throughout the project lifecycle.
• Object Orientation and IT-OT integrations help in the automated testing of the application and virtual commissioning, reducing the time to delivery and standardize testing for projects.

For System Integrators, the adoption of universal automation brings unprecedented engineering efficiency, process scalability and automation agility to OT systems. And it provides a way for them to introduce significant innovation into their customers’ industrial design systems that are now running on 40-year-old technology.

To see what universal automation looks like in action, take a look at Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert. You’ll see how System Integrators can now create step-change improvements throughout the entire industrial automation lifecycle–and reimagine what the future looks like today.