A design pattern for holonic manufacturing system in the IEC61499-based model-view-controller framework

Design patterns have received a lot of attention lately, especially in the object-oriented community. According to IEC61499, function block (FB) is considerably similar to object. To reduce the time and cost of system engineering, a suitable design pattern based on the generic model-view-controller (MVC) framework and ideas set out in IEC61499, which can be used in the design of holonic manufacturing system (HMS), is presented. The differences between the proposed framework and the classical MVC framework are identified. The corresponding engineering methodology that takes maximum advantage of the highly visual nature of the proposed lEC61499-based MVC framework is addressed. The holonic control system design of a simple assembly station is described as an illustrative example, highlighting the advantages of the proposed design pattern, which shows promise for improving manufacturing system performance while facilitating the development process.