Programmable Logic Controllers in the Context of Industry 4.0

Author(s): Martin A. Sehr, Marten Lohstroh, Mathew Weber, Ines Ugalde, Martin Witte, Joerg Neidig, Stephan Hoeme, Mehrdad Niknami, and Edward A. Lee

Abstract
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are an established platform, widely used throughout industrial automation but rather poorly understood among researchers. This paper gives an overview of the state of the practice, explaining why this settled technology persists throughout industry and presenting a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the dominant programming styles for today's PLC-based automation systems. We describe the software execution patterns that are standardized loosely in IEC 61131-3 and, where there are ambiguities in the standard, realized in concrete vendor implementations of PLCs. Ultimately, we identify opportunities for improvements that would enable increasingly complex industrial automation applications under the novel technical requirements associated with Industry 4.0 type environments without compromising the safety and reliability guaranteed by the current industrial automation technology stack.

Electronic Downloads

• https://doi.org/10.1109/TII.2020.3007764

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Citation Formats

• APA
  

                  
  Martin A. Sehr, Marten Lohstroh, Mathew Weber, Ines Ugalde, Martin Witte, Joerg Neidig, Stephan Hoeme, Mehrdad Niknami, and Edward A. Lee. (2021). Programmable Logic Controllers in the Context of Industry 4.0. In IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 17(5). doi:10.1109/TII.2020.3007764.                     
                  
                  

• MLA
  

                  
  Martin A. Sehr, Marten Lohstroh, Mathew Weber, Ines Ugalde, Martin Witte, Joerg Neidig, Stephan Hoeme, Mehrdad Niknami, and Edward A. Lee. "Programmable Logic Controllers in the Context of Industry 4.0." 2021. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 17, no. 5. doi:10.1109/TII.2020.3007764.                     
                  
                  

• Chicago
  

                  
  Martin A. Sehr, Marten Lohstroh, Mathew Weber, Ines Ugalde, Martin Witte, Joerg Neidig, Stephan Hoeme, Mehrdad Niknami, and Edward A. Lee. "Programmable Logic Controllers in the Context of Industry 4.0." 2021. In IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 17(5). doi:10.1109/TII.2020.3007764.                     
                  
                  

• BibTeX
  

                      
  @article{Sehr:21:PLC,
  	author = {Martin A. Sehr, Marten Lohstroh, Mathew Weber, Ines Ugalde, Martin Witte, Joerg Neidig, Stephan Hoeme, Mehrdad Niknami, and Edward A. Lee},
  	title = {Programmable Logic Controllers in the Context of Industry 4.0},
  	journal = {IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics},
  	volume = {17},
  	number = {5},
  	month = {May},
  	year = {2021},
  	doi = {10.1109/TII.2020.3007764},
  	abstract = {Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are an established platform, widely used throughout industrial automation but rather poorly understood among researchers. This paper gives an overview of the state of the practice, explaining why this settled technology persists throughout industry and presenting a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the dominant programming styles for today's PLC-based automation systems. We describe the software execution patterns that are standardized loosely in IEC 61131-3 and, where there are ambiguities in the standard, realized in concrete vendor implementations of PLCs. Ultimately, we identify opportunities for improvements that would enable increasingly complex industrial automation applications under the novel technical requirements associated with Industry 4.0 type environments without compromising the safety and reliability guaranteed by the current industrial automation technology stack.},
  	URL = {https://doi.org/10.1109/TII.2020.3007764}}