Assessing Adaptability Of Software Architectures For Cyber Physical Production Systems

Cyber physical production systems (CPPS) focus on increasing the flexibility and adaptability of industrial production systems, systems that comprise hardware such as sensors and actuators in machines as well as software controlling and integrating these machines. The requirements of customised mass production imply that control software needs to be adaptable after deployment in a shop floor, possibly even without interrupting production. Software architecture plays a central role in achieving run-time adaptability. In this paper we describe five architectures, that define the structure and interaction of software components in CPPS. Three of them already are already well known and used in the field. The other two we contribute as possible solution to overcome limitations of the first three architectures. We analyse the architectures' ability to support adaptability based on Taylor et al.'s BASE framework. We compare the architectures and discuss how the implications of CPPS affect the analysis with BASE. We further highlight what lessons from "traditional" software architecture research can be applied to arrive at adaptable software architectures for cyber physical production systems.