HARMONIQ

Flexible production systems are considered a key enabler of the industrial transformation towards Industry 4.0. They are characterized by high flexibility in system configuration, reconfigurability, connectivity within the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and advanced levels of automation, allowing rapid adaptation to changing product and process requirements. A fundamental prerequisite for these capabilities is the use of standardized information models and interoperable interfaces for the description and integration of the involved systems. Standardized machine and equipment descriptions play a particularly important role, as they support the digital planning and efficient operation of interconnected production environments. At the same time, they enable a seamless flow of information throughout the entire lifecycle of production resources and contribute to the interoperability and reconfigurability of modern production systems.

The objective is to develop a standardized Submodel Template for integrating the Equipment Behaviour Catalogue into the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) and to support the publication of ISO 16400-5 as an International Standard. In addition, the further development and harmonization of the ISO 16400 series with the AAS and other relevant standards will be advanced. Furthermore, an industry-driven prostep ivip project group will be established to support the standardization of engineering methods and information models for digital production systems.

The project is structured into five phases. It begins with the coordination of standardization activities and the alignment of requirements with industrial stakeholders and standardization bodies. Subsequently, the Equipment Behaviour Catalogue (EBC) and the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) are analyzed and harmonized, including the formal specification of interfaces. Based on these results, the ISO 16400 series is further developed, with a particular focus on the publication and consolidation of ISO 16400-5. In parallel, standardized AAS submodels and interoperable exchange formats for EBCs are developed. The project concludes with the validation of the concepts in industrial use cases and the transfer of the results into industrial practice and international standardization activities.

The EUPHORIC research project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) under the programme “WIPANO – Knowledge and Technology Transfer through Patents and Standards” (funding reference 03TNW007A) and is supervised by the Project Management Jülich (PtJ).

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