IoT & 5G

Facilitate the use of the Asset Administration Shell

The challenge

As a software platform, Eclipse BaSyx implements the central concepts of Industry 4.0 and thus makes a significant contribution to the operationalization of the fourth industrial revolution. An important element of Industry 4.0 is the end-to-end networking of assets that includes all levels of production. The asset administration shell was developed by the Industry 4.0 platform to address precisely this challenge. Experience with users has shown the great potential of Eclipse BaSyx, but also the challenges that users and SMEs in particular face when integrating Industry 4.0 middleware such as Eclipse BaSyx. Successful integration of Eclipse BaSyx requires specialist knowledge of Industry 4.0, which is often not available to a sufficient extent in smaller companies.

How we helped

The sustainability and long-term availability of the Eclipse BaSyx open source solution is to be ensured by establishing an ecosystem. XITASO has already completed consulting and implementation projects on the digital twin and the administration shell with various customers from different industries, particularly from the mechanical and plant engineering sector. Accordingly, XITASO can rely on extensive knowledge of the needs, requirements and obstacles of potential users. XITASO brings this experience to the project and investigates how the use cases considered in the project can be efficiently implemented in combination with Eclipse BaSyx and the resulting ecosystem.

Technologies

Administrative Shell Asset Administration Shell Eclipse BaSyX Mnestix OPC UA

The research project in detail

Eclipse BaSyx as middleware for Industry 4.0

The BaSys4Transfer research project builds on the work and results of the funded projects BaSys 4.0, BaSys 4.2, BaSys überProd and numerous BaSys satellite projects. In these projects, Eclipse BaSyx was and is being developed as an open (open source) Industry 4.0 middleware based on the asset administration shell (AAS), which is now being used in various application contexts.

Eclipse BaSyx is closely linked to the concept of asset administration shells. An administration shell is a digital representation of a physical or virtual asset in the industry, such as a machine, a product or a process. Eclipse BaSyx provides tools and frameworks for the creation, management and maintenance of asset administration shells.

These digital representations contain comprehensive information about the asset, including its properties, states, interfaces, and relationships to other assets. A core aspect of asset administration shells is interoperability. By implementing the asset administration shell specification, Eclipse BaSyX promotes standards compliance and asset administration shell interoperability. This is crucial to ensure that digital representations can communicate with each other regardless of vendor and application.

In summary, Eclipse BaSyx enables the creation, management and interaction of administration shells, which plays an important role in Industry 4.0 to support the networking of assets and the realization of smart factory concepts.

Mnestix as part of the ecosystem

With Mnestix, XITASO has a component in the Eclipse BaSyX ecosystem that makes it easier to create and manage administration shells and provide their information to end devices or via interfaces. All of this is standard-compliant using ready-made templates for the submodels, which can be easily adapted. The Mnestix Viewer is used to display the information stored in the asset administration shells on end devices or to make the data available to other systems via interfaces. The Mnestix Template Builder can be used to create templates for the automated and efficient creation of large quantities of asset administration shells. The templates correspond to the standardized submodels for typical applications such as the digital type plate. By annotating the templates, individual data structures can be used for the automated creation and updating of asset administration shells and submodels.

To the Mnestix Viewer for AAS

Project participants and funding

Project partners

Project sponsor

Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Funding program

IT systems

Project management

DLR Projektträger

Interested in helping with our research projects?

With research and innovation projects, we explore the potential of tomorrow’s technologies. For this purpose, we are always looking for committed colleagues who would like to continue and shape the XITASO path with us.

View all job offers