The project has been successfully closed the 31^st of December with an extension to the 3^rd of February for the final review meeting. As you should remember we got a very good overall technical evaluation ( also the O3neida part ), but a re-submission of two deliverables has been requested ( mainly consortium exploitation plan ) and the final cost claim report is still under evaluation.

Most industrial automation practitioners recognise that the majority of industrial control software implementations is done via ladder logic or function block programming. In the more complex systems, implementation is developed in a manner designed to meet standards like IEC 1131 and IEC 61499, often with a combination of the component languages.

In any case, the reality is that these software development tools are still tools for expert programmers who need to not only understand the specifics of the tool but its dependencies on the ultimate hardware platform. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is the comfort factor and familiarity for the engineers writing the software and the maintenance people who have to look after it.

The real issue is the integration of various intelligent technologies into a complex control system which may include a PLC (or similar controller), a motion control system, a robot/s etc. Typically the software design for such a system would require several programming environments, all specific to the element of the overall system with data exchange between the system elements. Examples include e.g. PLC-Ladder or derivatives/enhancements thereof, Robot-C or custom language, Motion Control-C with customised FB.

This has been a significant issue for machine builders. Even the available integrated development environments do not enable domain expert level design of complex integrated system software.

The challenge is not so much to design "automation objects" or "automation components", as these currently exist in various forms, rather it is to provide a design environment that will enable description of control strategies, communications schemes and automation hardware at a domain expert's level in a common domain language. This design environment must also be able to subsequently and automatically, either generate the code in the popular hardware platforms or generate the code in generic embedded hardware platforms.

The MEDEIA project acronym stands for Model-Driven Embedded Systems Design Environment for the Industrial Automation Sector and the project itself is a European Commission funded research project in the 7th Framework Programme led by Profactor.

MEDEIA includes several European industrial and research partners: Profactor, Vienna University of Technology, Politecnico di Milano, University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland, logicals Austria kirchner SOFT, MCM, SCHUNK, Electricité de France and O3neida Europe Asbl.

In addition industry clusters are associated to MEDEIA through O3neida Europe networking. These clusters include CRIT, IMA, G.D, SACMI and SELCOM from Italy, among others.

The starting point for MEDEIA is the increasing inefficiency of the automation design process itself. As the level of automation and system complexity in factories and plants increases steadily, system engineering becomes progressively more difficult and less-productive. A new approach to achieving high degrees of functionality through improved interoperability of subsystems is under way within MEDEIA.

The focus of the MEDEIA project is on "automation objects" or "automation components" as the basis for developing a model-based embedded systems design environment. The MEDEIA project's objective is a radical improvement in productivity for the development of embedded control systems within the industrial automation sector.

The project goal of reducing system design time by 25% will be achieved through the systematic development of the following elements:

1. A formal framework for model-driven component-based development of embedded control
2. An easily - understandable modelling method designed for use by domain experts
3. An integrated modelling of diagnostics
4. The integrated simulation and verification of systems design
5. An automatic, embedded, and platform specific code-generation for the deployment of control software to heterogeneous automation hardware
6. A series of proof-of-concept demonstrations on real-world applications by project partners in the application domain of robotics, manufacturing, power generation and automatic packaging

The development of these elements will produce a pioneering methodology and a prototypical design and engineering framework for embedded system design, which will enable the industrial automation industry to reduce system design time and costs for the development of complex control systems.

Through its automation components focus, the project will create a powerful method to design and maintain both long - term operational installations as well as automation solutions in environments with rapidly changing demands. To ensure wide usage of the project results a prototypical design tool will be developed and offered as an open source solution.

As referenced above, the increased productivity of system development through the provision of a novel model-driven design method for embedded control and diagnostics will be developed by using Automation Components as a major design element. MEDEIA aims at a meta-design architecture for the plant.

This implies two key elements:

• The MEDEIA design methodology is based on Automation Components (ACs) which are a combination of embedded hardware and software. An AC contains both the general model of its functionality and its interface for interacting with other components.
• The starting point of each engineering flow is the definition/specification of the system requirements. The MEDEIA design flow accepts functional and non-functional specification of a plant (e.g. for manufacturing, robotics, or power generation systems) as the initial starting point.

Figure: Flexible design flow

Figure: Automation Component Model

If you are interested in learning more about MEDEIA, please contact Allan Martel, Chief Operating Officer, O³neida Inc. at allanmartel@oooneida.org or visit the MEDEIA project Web Site at www.medeia.eu.