Understand and Control Complexity in Cyber-Physical Systems by Analyzing Complexity Drivers

IEEE International Conference on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPS), vol. 35, pp. 255–260

Abstract

Manufacturing companies are confronted with an increased customer demand for innovation and individuality. Leading to new products, which are realized by the merging of physical mechatronic elements with virtual software elements. These systems are cyber-physical systems (CPS) and have the advantage to increase the functionality and enable additional services. The combination into one system offers more than the sum of its components. However, the merge of physical and virtual domains and their domain-specific development methods introduces new and unconsidered complexity into the product and its developing process. It is important to understand and control the additional complexity in order to improve the cost-benefit ratio of CPS. This paper is analyzing the system complexity of CPS by investigating its complexity drivers and their relations with the aim to identify the biggest levers to manage complexity in CPS and providing a basis for deriving complexity-oriented measures.

Authors 4

1. Michael Riesener Aachen Chair of Production Engineering Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Production Engineering, Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering, (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

2. Christian Dölle Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

3. Alexander Keuper Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

4. Günther Schuh Aachen Chair of Production Engineering Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Production Engineering, Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering, (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany