Simulation Environment for Modular Automation Systems

When developing products or performing experimental research studies, the simulation of physical or logical systems is of great importance for evaluation and verification purposes. For research-, and development-related distributed control systems, there is a need to simulate common physical environments with separate interconnected modules independently controlled, and orchestrated using standardized network communication protocols.The simulation environment presented in this paper is a bespoke solution precisely for these conditions, based on the Modular Automation design strategy. It allows easy configuration and combination of simple modules into complex production processes, with support for individual low-level control of modules, as well as recipe-orchestration for high-level coordination. The use of the environment is exemplified in a configuration of a modular ice-cream factory, used for cybersecurity-related research.