IoT backends in the Asset Administration Shell – four integration approaches
摘要
The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) specifies digital twins for physical assets, which allow a unified access to data and digital services available for it. Setting up an AAS infrastructure allows manufacturers to cope with heterogeneous and fragmented data sources for better data utilization, e.g., in AI-based decision systems. An AAS provides the infrastructure to link devices with connected data and services, which are often already exposed by an IoT backend. We derive four integration approaches (Push with Adapter, Push with Bridge, Pull with Wrapper, and Pull with Bridge) from the Enterprise Integration Pattern language, and discuss their suitability to the integration of IoT backends with the AAS based on properties such an integration needs to fulfill. We present Proof-of-Concept implementations for two promising approaches (Push with Adapter, Pull with Bridge). Based on experience gained in the PoC implementations, we evaluate when to apply which approach. We found that the Pull with Bridge approach is the most suitable in most cases.