Title
Programmable Logic Controllers in the Context of Industry 4.0
Abstract
Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are an established platform, widely used throughout industrial automation but poorly understood among researchers. This article 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. We identify opportunities for improvements that would enable increasingly complex industrial automation applications while strengthening safety and reliability. Specifically, we propose deterministic, distributed programming models that embrace explicit timing, event-triggered computation, and improved security.
Year
DOI
Venue
2021
10.1109/TII.2020.3007764
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Automation,computer integrated manufacturing,embedded software,manufacturing automation,real-time systems
Journal
17
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
5
1551-3203
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
9
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Sehr, A.1834.28
Marten Lohstroh2376.71
Mathew Weber300.34
Ines Ugalde400.34
Martin Witte521.51
Joerg Neidig600.34
Stephan Hoeme700.34
Mehrdad Niknami800.34
Edward A. Lee962.96