PhD Project 7 (TUWIEN)
Machine interoperability: OPC UA/DDS Gateway
Please send your application to k@auto.tuwien.ac.at. The application should include motivation letter, CV, certificates, master thesis copy as a PDF (or ZIP archive containing PDFs). Please include a proof of English Proficiency (IELTS Academic, TOEFL, etc.) if available.
- Important: don’t forget to mention in your application how you found out about the position.
Host: Vienna University of Technology (TUWIEN), Institute of Computer Aided Automation.
- Main supervisor: Prof. Wolfgang Kastner, k@auto.tuwien.ac.at (contact person)
- Co-supervisor: Prof. Gerhard Fohler, fohler@eit.uni-kl.de
Requirements:
- Mandatory requirements for all PhD positions
- Master’s in Computer Science or equivalent
- Knowledge of algorithms and data structures
- Experience with developing large complex software
- Demonstrated ability to write technical reports, articles is a plus
Objectives:
- Increasing the interoperability of machines, allowing larger and more flexible systems and access to data at all levels for data analytics.
- Developing a distributed and Service Oriented gateway capable of bridging OPC UA and DDS, the most widespread standards for interoperability.
Expected Results:
- Definition of an architecture, technology stack, and the mappings necessary to support the exchange of information and functionality between data-centric DDS and object-oriented OPC UA systems.
- Design and implementation of a vendor-neutral and standard bidirectional gateway for information exchange and interoperability between DDS and OPC UA.
- Algorithms necessary to introduce guarantees for scalability, security, and reliability in a Fog environment within the context of middleware applications; their development and evaluation.
Planned visits and collaboration:
- ABB (Dr. Magnus Larsson): Evaluate the OPC UA/DDS gateway on the ABB use case.
Description:
The aim of this PhD project is to research and implement a distributed and service oriented bi-directional gateway bridging OPC UA and DDS. Specifically, this would involve the definition of an architecture, technology stack, and the mappings necessary to support the exchange of information and functionality between the two. This includes allowing for the execution, discovery, and updating of services, operations, and information in both systems and on the gateway itself. Algorithms necessary to introduce guarantees for scalability, security, and reliability in a fog environment within the context of middleware applications will need to be developed and tested for their impact on hybrid DDS and OPC UA systems.
Relevant publications:
- A. Ismail and W. Kastner, “Surveying the features of industrial SOAs,” 2017 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology (ICIT), Toronto, ON, 2017, pp. 1199-1204. doi: 10.1109/ICIT.2017.7915533
- M. Weyrich and C. Ebert, “Reference Architectures for the Internet of Things,” in IEEE Software, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 112-116, Jan.-Feb. 2016. doi: 10.1109/MS.2016.200
- J. Pfrommer, S. Grüner and F. Palm, “Hybrid OPC UA and DDS: Combining architectural styles for the industrial internet,” 2016 IEEE World Conference on Factory Communication Systems (WFCS), Aveiro, 2016, pp. 1-7. doi: 10.1109/WFCS.2016.7496515
- G. Pardo-Castellote, “OMG Data-Distribution Service: architectural overview,” 23rd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops, 2003. Proceedings., 2003, pp. 200-206. doi: 10.1109/ICDCSW.2003.1203555
- D. C. Schmidt and H. van’t Hag, “Addressing the challenges of mission-critical information management in next-generation net-centric pub/sub systems with OpenSplice DDS,” 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Processing, Miami, FL, 2008, pp. 1-8. doi: 10.1109/IPDPS.2008.4536567
- F. Palm, S. Grüner, J. Pfrommer, M. Graube and L. Urbas, “Open source as enabler for OPC UA in industrial automation,” 2015 IEEE 20th Conference on Emerging Technologies & Factory Automation (ETFA), Luxembourg, 2015, pp. 1-6. doi: 10.1109/ETFA.2015.7301562