Distributed Software Architecture Enabling Peer-to-Peer Communicating Controllers

This paper presents a novel model-driven software architecture for systems with high degree of redundancy and modularity of the equipment. The architecture is based on totally decentralized control. It combines adaptability and robustness of multi-agent control architectures with portability and interoperability benefits of IEC 61499 function block architecture. The architecture has been successfully proven feasible on a number of field trials, including modeling and implementation of a medium-scale airport baggage handling control. Deployment was done on distributed networks consisting of configurations ranging from a few to dozens of communicating control nodes. The work confirmed the ability to deliver similar functional characteristics as centralized systems but in a distributed implementation. Performance testing and development verified sufficient performance and software life-cycle benefits.