The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the networking of physical objects via computer networks. The IoT is becoming increasingly important for industry. An example of the IoT is a factory where different machines are connected and exchange data to make production more efficient.

As you can imagine, the development of such systems requires a considerable amount of effort, which increases as the system complexity advances. However, the desire to reduce operational resources competes with this. Therefore, it is imperative to ask: How can the development effort be reduced?

One of the possible methods for reducing the development effort was presented by Professor Alois Zoitl at the WFCS-Konferenz 2023 in Pavia, opens an external URL in a new window. His approach concerning the IEC 61499 modeling language offers numerous advantages for control engineering, such as improved software quality.

"The demands on modern production systems are increasing. We are meeting these challenges with practice-oriented and cross-domain solutions. A key component of these solutions is the implementation of IEC 61499," explains Zoitl.

Recent studies confirm this approach. It has been shown that IEC 61499 can help reduce development effort. Are you interested in learning more about this topic? Please have a look here: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8502464, opens an external URL in a new window 

In his presentation, Zoitl demonstrated how this approach can be implemented in practice and what strategies have proved helpful in the past. In addition, he clarified widespread misconceptions.

"We humans will understand each other if we speak a common language. For automation, IEC 61499 can be this cross-industry, unifying language," summarizes Zoitl. He completed his keynote by presenting open research topics to the community.