Collaborative Production Line Simulation via Signal Gateway Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Integrating independently running simulators from different suppliers into a unified industrial automation production line simulation is challenging, hindering efficient collaboration and synchronization of simulation results.
Innovation Solution
A distributed collaborative simulation method and system that extracts model data from multiple simulators, generates list files, integrates simulator information, and maps control signals to enable synchronized output to a visualization tool for three-dimensional presentation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If independently running simulators from different suppliers are integrated into a unified simulation system, then collaborative simulation capability is improved, but system complexity and integration difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the simulation architecture into independent simulator units that each handle specific production units, connected through a standardized gateway interface. This allows different suppliers' simulators to remain independent while enabling collaborative simulation through the unified gateway protocol, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The simulation gateway serves as a universal interface that can communicate with multiple different simulator types from various suppliers using a standardized protocol. This multi-functional gateway enables diverse simulators to be integrated into a unified system without increasing individual simulator complexity, addressing the adaptability-complexity tradeoff.
2Productivity
If model data from multiple simulators is extracted and integrated, then simulation collaboration is improved, but data processing time and computational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary extraction of essential model data from each simulator before simulation execution, storing it in a standardized format in the gateway. This pre-processing approach reduces real-time data processing requirements during collaborative simulation, improving productivity while minimizing time loss through advance data preparation.
3Reliability
If control signals are mapped across multiple simulators, then synchronized execution is improved, but signal mapping complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The simulation gateway acts as an intermediary that centralizes the control signal mapping function. Instead of each simulator needing complex point-to-point signal mapping with every other simulator, the gateway mediates all signal routing using a standardized protocol, improving synchronization reliability while reducing overall mapping complexity through centralization.
Data Source
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AI summary
A distributed collaborative simulation method, comprising: extracting, by a first emulator among a first group of emulators, model data of one of a plurality of production units in a first scenario, to generate a first list file; respectively generating a plurality of first list files for the plurality of production units; extracting, by a second emulator, model data of a production line in the first scenario, to generate a second list file; matching production unit names in the plurality of first list files with production unit names in the second list file; adding, to the second list file, information of the first emulator corresponding to the production unit name in the first list file; respectively mapping, to control signals corresponding to the first list file corresponding to a first production unit, control signals associated with a first production unit name among a plurality of production unit names in a joint simulation list; and controlling execution of the first emulator and the second emulator according to the joint simulation list, so that the first emulator and the second emulator respectively output simulation results to a visualization tool.