Cooperative Information Management for Distributed Production Nodes

Abstract

Advanced manufacturing environments nowadays involve a number of cooperating heterogeneous nodes, where each node supports a distinct activity, and their joint efforts and information exchange is of a complicated nature. There is a need to develop a strong interoperable distributed information management system to support these nodes with their information exchange and the management of large amount of data. Interestingly enough, different complex production environments share similar complexities. For instance, in production of potable water, that is the application described in this paper, similar to other production environments, there is a prominent need for coordinated control in order to achieve good product. Therefore, the information management strategies suitable for this production application can also properly support other applications. Existing systems for control and/or monitoring of the water production and water distribution are heterogeneous and of different levels of automation and reliability. The distributed/federated information management framework described in the paper supports the cooperation and information exchange among different nodes, and the activities involved in an intelligent water production network. Although, this paper mainly addresses the required interoperability and information management issues for the water production application, the approach described in this paper or a substantial part of it can be applied to any other manufacturing applications.