Secure Cloud Manufacturing

2017 ~ Present

Secure Cloud Manufacturing

Goals

The long-term goal of this research project is to develop methods and techniques to make large-scale manufacturing systems safer, more secure, and more productive, enabling them to produce high-quality products for consumers at modest cost. This project utilizes a small manufacturing system that consists of three industrial robots, four machine tools, and two conveyors, with an integrated industrial control system (from Rockwell Automation) connected by Ethernet/IP. The testbed is instrumented with presence sensors, inspection cameras, an interactive HMI display, and a computer for synchronization of real-time and historical data to a cloud platform. The research goals around the testbed include: control development and validation, learning control, agent-based control, optimizing scheduling, reconfigurable control, cloud-based manufacturing, security of cyber-physical systems, etc. One key enabler for the research program is having simulation models of the different system components that can be validated off-line, or in a hardware-in-the-loop framework. Another key enabler is the hosting of testbed-generated data in a deployed cloud environment to enable real-time cloud analytics, predictive maintenance, and remote system monitoring.

Issues Involved or Addressed

Methods and Technologies

Academic Majors of Interest

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mathematics
  • Industrial and Operations Engineering
  • Computer Engineering
  • Aerospace Engineering

Preferred Interests and Preparation

Mechanical design, prototyping, sensor integration, algorithm development, PLC programming, quality analysis, cybersecurity implementation, cloud system design, database creation and management, MATLAB/Arena Simulation, throughput analysis, 3D visualization, interest in project material, willingness to develop skills.

Team Advisors

Prof. Dawn Tillbury/Prof. Kira Barton / Prof. Morely Mao

Sponsor(s)