AAS-based Interoperable and Collaborative Toolchain Framework for Automation Engineering

Interoperability and semantic consistency across heterogeneous software systems within the Industry 4.0 paradigm are considered key enablers of collaborative engineering and integrated toolchains. To support such collaboration, information from different engineering disciplines must be integrated in a coherent and consistent manner through developed standards. The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) and AutomationML (AML) are established technologies for the formal modeling, exchange, and secure access of engineering data. This paper proposes an approach that demonstrates how AML-based engineering data can be systematically integrated into the AAS to enable consistent cross-domain collaboration and controlled management of Engineering Changes (ECs). The approach comprises a formally defined integration method for AAS and AML, an AAS-based structured description of ECs as the result of engineering collaboration, and a framework for propagating formally specified changes to the unified AML model across the toolchain. To validate these contributions, the approach is evaluated through an industrial use case, demonstrating its effectiveness in collaborative engineering.