Automation Facility Simulation Model Integrity in FAT Verification
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
During Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT), it is challenging to verify whether simulation models intended for testing are being used correctly and to detect unauthorized changes, especially in complex process engineering plants with numerous simulation models.
Innovation Solution
A method and automation facility that allow real-time tracking and verification of simulation models, ensuring their integrity, authenticity, and originality by using metadata signatures and hash values, integrated into the control system, which generates certificates and monitors changes, and provides a visualization of the simulation models and their status.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large number of simulation models are used in Factory Acceptance Test, then the test coverage and comprehensiveness are improved, but the difficulty of verifying model integrity and authenticity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the verification task from the manual process by implementing an automated service that reads certificates from simulation models and verifies their integrity. The service unit separates the verification function from the simulation model usage, automatically checking certificates and generating violation messages when issues are detected, thus reducing verification complexity while maintaining comprehensive test coverage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the service unit continuously monitors simulation models for certificate validity and integrity violations. When violations are detected, the system generates messages and notifications that provide immediate feedback about model authenticity, enabling real-time verification without increasing operational complexity
2Device complexity
If manual verification of simulation models is performed, then the complexity of the system is reduced, but the risk of unauthorized changes and substitution increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by embedding certificates and integrity checks into simulation models before they are loaded and used. The verification service reads and validates certificates in advance, ensuring model authenticity is established before execution, thereby preventing unauthorized changes without requiring complex real-time monitoring systems
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary verification service that acts as a mediator between the simulation model and the testing process. This service unit validates model integrity by checking certificates and comparing hash values, providing a trusted intermediate layer that ensures authenticity without significantly increasing system complexity
3Ease of operation
If simulation models are not tracked and verified, then the ease of operation is improved, but the error rate and undetected substitutions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling simulation models to carry their own certificates and integrity information internally. The verification service reads this embedded information automatically without requiring external tracking systems or manual documentation, maintaining operational simplicity while ensuring model accuracy through self-verification
Data Source
AI summary
A method for operating an automation facility, wherein and to an the automation facility includes a simulation server, which has a simulation framework for simulation of the process behavior of sensors and/or actuators in accordance with a simulation model, where a large number of simulation models is stored in the simulation server, which can be loaded into the simulation framework, includes a simulation interface for simulating the communication behavior of the sensors and/or actuators and for connecting the modelled process behavior to a controller, and includes an operator system for process control and process operation such that it becomes possible to verify, in a simplified manner within the context of what is known as a “Factory Acceptance Test” (FAT) during the test or during the verification of functionality, whether testing was performed with the simulation models provided for this purpose.