Intention-based Configuration of Information and Communication Components for Industry 4.0 Applicati

When:
25/04/2021 – 26/04/2021 all-day
2021-04-25T02:00:00+02:00
2021-04-26T02:00:00+02:00

Offre en lien avec l’Action/le Réseau : – — –/– — –

Laboratoire/Entreprise : CNAM, CEDRIC
Durée : 3 years
Contact : stage.isid-mim@cnam.fr
Date limite de publication : 2021-04-25

Contexte :
Nowadays, organizations move forward the digital transformation. They are challenged by new Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) such as Industrial Internet-of-Things and Artificial Intelligence based Applications, Cyber-Physical Systems, Blockchain, 5G Networks, and so on [2]. Industry 4.0 (I4.0), commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, is about the current trends of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies [2]. Digitalization and Industry 4.0 are profoundly changing society, economy and the way businesses operate. To face these challenges, organizations design and implement new business and Information Technology models based on Distributed Systems to guarantee that the company will reach the objectives defined by new opportunities and limit any threat of an unfavorable environment.
Numerous research works are conducted to study the impact of these digital technologies on enterprise management, for instance, within the Business-IT Alignment [3] or Enterprise Architecture [4] fields. However, there is a lack of alignment of Industry 4.0 ICT to the business strategy and business goals. The existing literature still does not respond to this compelling and deep need. For instance, the most known framework dealing with it is the “Reference Architectural Model Industrie 4.0” (RAMI 4.0), proposed by the Standardization Council Industry 4.0 (SCI4.0) [5] [6]. It defines a three-dimensional framework to structure and define Industry 4.0 components. Even if one of the axes of this model includes the business layer, it is reduced to organization and business processes. This lack of a powerful alignment metaphor is a weakness of RAMI 4.0 proposal and of the other existing approaches. The lack of alignment induces less efficient distribution of resources, less adapted configuration, lower level of business goals achievement and of adaptation to the context.

Sujet :
The research problem we want to address in this PhD thesis proposal is related to these weaknesses. From our point of view, a completely new approach should encompass both business strategy and digital technologies deployed to support it through an intentional perspective. The notion of intention is essential for organizations as it allows requirements of internal and external users of ICT to be satisfied. The teleological (intention-oriented) perspective gains traction in many fields including different organizational aspects as it allows artifacts under consideration to be connected to business and other needs [7]. For example, Intent-Based Networking is an emerging approach allowing the configuration of the physical and virtual network infrastructure depending on business strategies requirements [8].
The intention-based conciliation approach would provide means for a context-aware adoption and configuration of underlying digital technologies. Corresponding to this assumption, we propose to apply approaches issued from the field of Situational Method Engineering (SME) [1] [9] [10]. SME aims at building methods adapted to concrete situations from a set of reusable method components depending on the context factors. Several approaches exist: assembly, extension, configuration and so on [9]. One of the approaches is based on software product lines and develops a family of methods based on variability [1]. During the application, the family is configured accordingly to a given context and to the users’ intentions [10]. Applied to this PhD project at hand, components should be defined at the level of ICT components and the family at the level of the infrastructure.
The research goal of this PhD project is to provide an intention-based approach to ease the integration of new ICT into organizations dynamically during all the Information System lifecycle. Organizations would be able to adapt and to stick, as quickly as possible, to business requirements changes. The work on this thesis includes:
– Preparation of a State-of-the-Art on intention-based approaches in ICT and their adoption by organizations,
– Formalization of the concept of a reusable ICT component allowing its contextual configuration,
– Elaboration of the ontology of intentions adapted to the usage of ICT components,
– Elaboration of a framework allowing to relate ICT components to business strategy through the intentional layer,
– Proposal of an approach for the contextual selection and configuration of ICT components including the selection of the appropriate technique to bring this ability to adapt the architecture of the applications and the underlying technologies.
References:
1. Kornyshova, E.; Deneckere, R. and Rolland, C. Method Families Concept: Application to Decision-Making Methods. In Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling, pages 413-427, Springer, London, United Kingdom, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing 81, 2011.
2. Lu Y., Industry 4.0: A survey on technologies, applications and open research issues. Journal of Industrial Information Integration 6 (2017) 1–10.
3. Issa A., Hatiboglu B., Bildstein A., Bauernhansl T., Industrie 4.0 roadmap: Framework for digital transformation based on the concepts of capability maturity and alignment, Procedia CIRP, Volume 72, 2018, Pages 973-978.
4. Aldea A., Iacob M-E., Wombacher A., Hiralal M., Franck T. Enterprise Architecture 4.0 – A vision, an approach and software tool support. IEEE 22nd International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference. 2018.
5. The Reference Architectural Model RAMI 4.0 and the Industrie 4.0 Component. 2015. https://www.zvei.org/en/subjects/industrie-4-0/the-reference-architectural-model-rami-40-and-the-industrie-40-component/, Accessed on January 2020.
6. Adolphs P., Bedenbender H., Dirzus D., Ehlich M., Epple U., Hankel M., Heidel R., Hoffmeister M., Huhle H., Kärcher B., Koziolek H., Pichler R., Pollmeier S., Schewe F., Walter A., Waser B., Wollschlaeger M. Reference Architecture Model Industrie 4.0 (RAMI4.0). 2015.
7. Deneckere, R. and Kornyshova, E. Processus téléologique et variabilité : Utilisation de la sensibilité au contexte. In Revue des Sciences et Technologies de l’Information – Série ISI : Ingénierie des Systèmes d’Information, 16:1: 61-88, 2011.
8. Han Y., Li J., Hoang D., Yoo J.-H., Won-Ki Hong J., An intent-based network virtualization platform for SDN, 12th International Conference on Network and Service Management (CNSM), 2016, 353-358.
9. Ralyté, J., Deneckère, R., Rolland, C., Towards a Generic Method for Situational Method Engineering, International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAISE), Klagenfurt, Austria, 95-110, 2003.
10. Deneckère R. and Kornyshova E. Process Line Configuration: an Indicator-based Guidance of the Intentional Model MAP, Evaluation of Modeling Methods in Systems Analysis and Design (EMMSAD), Hammamet, Tunisie, 2010.

Profil du candidat :
The candidate have very good skills in distributed systems, information systems engineering and process modeling and be interested in intention-oriented approaches and new digital technologies (CPS, Industrial IoT, etc.). The candidate should have good writing skills in English. He/she must be highly motivated, independent, with a real ability to organize and follow a schedule.

Formation et compétences requises :
The candidate must hold a M.Sc. in Computer Science (or equivalent).

Adresse d’emploi :
Conservatoire National des arts et Métiers, CEDRIC Lab, 2, rue Conté 75003 Paris France