A Model-Driven Framework to Develop Mobile Human Machine Interface (HMI) Screens for Industrial Control Systems

Abstract

In the past decade, the Industrial Control System (ICS) has experienced rapid changes due to the continuous advancements of software technology. The interface between human operators and industrial machines i.e. Human Machine Interface (HMI), acts as a key component for monitoring and controlling complex industrial systems. HMI systems are connected to industrial machines through Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), actuators, sensors etc. with a special communication protocol such as OPC, Modbus, PROFINET etc. Traditional HMIs have been accepted with simple user interfaces for many years to avoid complexities and high operational costs. But now, the perception about user interfaces has been changed greatly due to emergence of smartphone technology and users demand same level of functionality for industrial HMIs. Developing HMI systems for ICS is a complex process as it involves configuration with critical industrial processes and acquiring real time plants data. Multiple approaches exist for the HMI development of ICS, however these approaches are either for desktop applications or for mobile web applications or are based on costly HMI proprietary tools that demand high payment per widget. A complete, open source and automated native mobile HMI development is missing. This opens a new research area to develop native mobile client application for HMI of ICSs through an easy to use design and simplified development process. In this context, a simplified high level solution is presented based on Model Driven Mobile HMI Framework (MMHF). MMHF helps the developer to easily design human machine interface, automatically generate HMI application code and rapidly deploy it to the target system. MMHF provides cost effective, simple, easy to reuse, automated and native mobile HMI solution that can be implemented across any android device. In this framework, firstly a profile Unified Modeling Language Profile for Mobile HMI (UMLPMH) has been developed that adapts concepts of mobile HMI for ICS based on UML Class Diagram. Secondly, a complete transformation engine i.e. Model Driven Mobile based HMI Code Generator (MDMHCG) is developed using Model-to-Text (M2T) approach to automate the transformation process using Acceleo. MDMHCG automatically generates native android code for HMI application. Finally, the validation of our framework is performed through two benchmark case studies i.e. Home Automation and Sewage Treatment Plant System. The experimental results prove that our proposed framework provides complete vii HMI development solution at higher level of abstraction by reducing the complexity and cost of development.