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IoT and Cloud Computing in Automation of Assembly Modeling Systems

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics · May 2014

DOI: 10.1109/TII.2014.2300346

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1426 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, VOL. 10, NO. 2, MAY 2014

IoT and Cloud Computing in Automation of

Assembly Modeling Systems
Chengen Wang, Senior Member, IEEE, Zhuming Bi, Senior Member, IEEE, and Li Da Xu, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—After the technologies of integrated circuits, personal reconfigure themselves to catch new market opportunities.
computers, and the Internet, Internet of Things (IoT) is the latest Conventional enterprises with static system architecture, such
information technology (IT) that is radically changing business as computer-integrated-manufacturing, are no longer able to
paradigms. However, IoT’s influence in the manufacturing sector
has yet been fully explored. On the other hand, existing computer- cope with high-level complexity and turbulences in a dynamic
aided software tools are experiencing a bottleneck in dealing with environment. Many manufacturing paradigms, such as agile
complexity, dynamics, and uncertainties in their applications of manufacturing and sustainable manufacturing, have been
modern enterprises. It is argued that the adoption of IoT and cloud proposed to meet these challenges [4]–[6]. However, the imple-
computing in enterprise systems (ESs) would overcome the bottle- mentation of a new paradigm relies on the infrastructure of
neck. In this paper, the challenges in generating assembly plans of
complex products are discussed. IoT and cloud computing are information technology (IT). IT technologies and innovations,
proposed to help a conventional assembly modeling system evolve including newly developed Internet of things (IoT), have been
into an advanced system, which is capable to deal with complexity stimulating manufacturing technologies.
and changes automatically. To achieve this goal, an assembly According to the Moore’s law, the processing speed and
modeling system is automated, and the proposed system includes memory capacity of computing hardware double every 18
the following innovations: 1) the modularized architecture to make
the system robust, reliable, flexible, and expandable; 2) the inte- months [8]. After the breakthroughs of large-scale integrated
grated object-oriented templates to facilitate interfaces and reuses circuits, personal computers, and the Internet, many speculators
of system components; and 3) the automated algorithms to retrieve believe that the next IT revolution is IoT. An interacting network
relational assembly matrices for assembly planning. Assembly with billions even trillions of the tracked objects becomes
modeling for aircraft engines is used as examples to illustrate the feasible. Direct interactions can be performed among objects
system effectiveness.
and humans. Successful applications of IoT have been demon-
Index Terms—Assembly modeling, cloud computing, computer- strated in retail business, logistics, military, environment sur-
aid manufacturing, computer-aided process planning, Internet of
veillance, and healthcare [36]. In those applications, real-time
Things (IoT), product templates.
data can be collected by numerous sensors and the data can be
shared by the network to support decision-making. However,
I. INTRODUCTION
IoT’s potential in many areas, including design and operation of
USINESS markets have been globalized, and inter-
B enterprise and intra-enterprise interactions become
strongly coupled. Within an enterprise, the departments (e.g.,
manufacturing systems, has yet been explored systematically.
In this paper, IoT is proposed to be applied in automated
assembly planning system, since IoT can be a vital solution to
design, manufacturing, assembly, and marketing) work concur- address system complexity and uncertainties. The rest of the
rently to optimize products and manufacturing processes at the paper is organized as follows. Section II provides a literature
system level. Outside an enterprise, inter-enterprise collabora- survey on automated assembly modeling to identify the limitations
tions (e.g., global manufacturing, virtual manufacturing, and and challenges of existing techniques. The rationales that IoT
enterprise alliances) aggregate all possible resources to make can be a potential solution to overcome these limitations have
complex products. Meanwhile, companies are able to been explained. Some enabling technologies are introduced to
evolve conventional assembly planning system into an advanced
IoT-based information system. In Section III, the object-oriented
Manuscript received September 13, 2013; revised November 22, 2013; accepted
January 02, 2014. Date of publication January 14, 2014; date of current version model template is proposed to address the requirements of decen-
May 02, 2014. This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science tralization, modularity, and expandability. In Section IV, new data
Foundation of China (NNSFC) under Grant 71132008, and in part by the U.S. mining algorithms are considered for cloud computing. Auto-
National Science Foundation under Grant SES-1318470 and Grant 1044845.
(Corresponding author: Z. Bi.) Paper no. TII-13-0632. mated algorithms are developed to retrieve relational matrices for
C. Wang is with the State Key Laboratory of Synthetical Automation for Process assembly modeling. In Section V, assembly modeling for aircraft
Industries, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China (e-mail: engines is used as a case study to illustrate the application of
[email protected]).
Z. Bi is with the Department of Engineering, Indiana University–Purdue object-oriented product template and algorithms. In Section VI,
University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). the presented work is summarized and the conclusion is provided.
L. D. Xu is with the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China; with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai,
200240, China; with the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei,
230026, China; and with Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529 USA. II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online at
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. From the perspective of interaction and communication, the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TII.2014.2300346 world is becoming flatter and smaller and the manufacturing

1551-3203 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
WANG et al.: IoT AND CLOUD COMPUTING IN AUTOMATION OF ASSEMBLY MODELING SYSTEMS 1427

business environments are globalized. In other words, the pro- required by decision-making at the high level is decentralized
duction involves many resources, which are interacted with each and must be accessed readily by distributed participators [7].
other and should be taken into consideration simultaneously in Although no assembly modeling system can meet the afore-
decision-making of business activities. This forms new chal- mentioned requirements appropriately, many researchers have
lenges to an enterprise system (ES) in terms of the requirements contributed to the fundamentals of digital assembly. Since 1980s,
on dealing with decentralization, modularity, and expandability. scientists have developed various assembly modeling methods,
The recent progress on the development of ESs has been given by such as map-based relation models, hierarchical tree models,
Xu [53] and He and Xu [22]. The implementation of an ES and object orientated models. Note that in assembly modeling,
depends on the IT infrastructure. In the following, ESs for how to define assembly relations among parts is critical. As far as
assembly modeling and their correlations with IoT are discussed. assembly relations are concerned, the examples of the relational
models are liaison diagram models [18], AND/OR Representations
[38], and polychromatic models [20], [59]. Among these models,
A. ES for Automated Assembly Modeling
matrices are widely used since they are efficient to represent the
Modern products tend to be smarter, more versatile, and relations and easy to be programmed. Dini and Santochi [13] first
sophisticated. Product structures become even complex, which used the matrices to represent assembly models of products; they
poses critical challenges in assembly processes. System perfor- proposed the interference matrix, contact matrix, and connection
mance, such as profit, lead-time, quality, and cost, depends matrix to describe product structures, sub-assembly components,
greatly on the effectiveness of assembly modeling [11], [17], and assembly sequences. Huang and Huang [23] improved Dini
[18]. Digital assembly is a type of ESs for assembly planning and Santochi’s model with a concept of discomposed binary
based on solid models and structures of products. The level of matrix, which was represented in a tree diagram. However, the
difficulty of assembly modeling depends on the complexity of a limitation of their models [13], [23] is that the interference matrix
product, as well as the availability of data for assembly planning. is inapplicable when parts have inclined surfaces for assembling.
The adoption of IoT in a modeling system will have a significant To accommodate this case, the contact matrix and connection
impact on these two aspects. matrix have to be determined manually. Yu et al. [56] extracted
1) Complexity: To quantify the complexity, a system can be the relation matrix from the object relation chart for the connec-
viewed as a constitution of inputs, outputs, and the relational tion information of parts; which required inputting the object
models from inputs and outputs. System complexity relates to the relation chart manually. Wang and Liu [58] utilized the neigh-
number of system components, which may be varied significantly boring matrix and interference matrix that was similar to the
from one system to another [9], [44]. Modern products include contact matrices. To simplify the modeling process, Shu et al.
more and more components and their production processes [43] constructed the connection matrix and interference matrix,
involve uncertainties. Both factors increase system complexity, which only considered functional parts.
as well as the complexity of computer-aided design (CAD)
systems. The rising complexities involved in decision support
B. IoT and Its Applications
systems have been explored broadly in the literatures. For
example, Li et al. [30] investigated the qualitative and The advance of an ES relies greatly on IT infrastructure. IoT
quantitative data and reasoning involved in design of complex is becoming a mainstream infrastructure [39]. IoT can help
products; they developed an approach to represent and utilize companies to catch emerging opportunities and improve com-
vague and qualitative data to manage the complexity of product petitive advantage [33]. A number of researchers gave their
design. Basanta-Val and Garcia-Valls [3] developed a Java-based comprehensive surveys on the state of the art of IoT. For
architecture to deal with the heterogeneity and distribution of example, Kranenburg et al. [28] introduced a brief history
information systems in industrial applications. To monitor real- of IoT; Bandyopadhyay and Sen [8] overviewed key techno-
time changes in industrial control systems, Vollmer et al. [48] logical drivers, potential applications, and challenges of IoT;
investigated intelligent cyber sensors for the purpose of the Bui [9] and Atzori et al. [2] discussed the progress of the
enhanced security and the controllability of system complexity. development in enabling technologies. He and Xu discussed the
2) Data Availability: A manufacturing company used to have requirements of information integration for distributed enter-
its clear boundary with its residential environment to define its prises [22]. Li surveyed existing information technologies to
inside business activities. The company was organized as a fight counterfeit products in the globalized market [29]; while
hierarchical architecture, and all data and information were Xu focused on information architecture for quality management
integrated and could be accessed from a centralized database in supply chain [53]. The application of IoT was also extended
by decision makers. The corresponding system paradigm was to water resource management under critical weather condi-
computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) [4], [5]. CIM could tions by Fang et al. [19]. The work by Li et al. discussed the
optimize the utilization of system resources to achieve a high technologies to improve the efficiency of data acquisitions
productivity. However, it involved a heavy cost and lacked and transmission in an IoT-based application [32]. The IoT
of adaptability to accommodate quick changes [6], [16]. To has not only been studied by the developed countries such as
improve system adaptability, a manufacturing system becomes the United States, Japan, and European countries, but also by
dynamic and its boundaries with the environment become vague. the rapidly developing countries. Taking an example of
Close interactions are needed in both of inter-enterprise and China, 43% of large organizations started to test and
intra-enterprise collaborations. Correspondingly, the data investigate the private clouds and infrastructures of IoT and
1428 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, VOL. 10, NO. 2, MAY 2014

this percentage was predicted to be 88% in two years from

2011 [41].
Cloud computing is a critical technology to support decision-
making systems of IoT-based applications [42], [31], [33], [49].
The issues involved in the application integrations of hybrid
cloud computing environment were discussed by Li et al. [31].
Architectures to support the operations of distributed enterprises
were investigated by Tan et al. [45] and Wang et al. [50]. To
establish better client–server relationship, Ren et al. [42] devel-
oped a simulation platform as a computation tool for design of
complex products. Tao et al. [47] proposed a parallel method to
deal with the service selections in cloud manufacturing, and
Cheng et al. [10] scheduled services based on energy saving in
cloud manufacturing.
Despite the rapid development of IoT, many challenges were Fig. 1. IoT application for assembly modeling and planning.
raised to adopt the IoT in different applications [37]. To achieve
ambient intelligence, major technological innovations will need
to take place. These include governance, standardization [25],
[26], [27], interoperability [24], [40], [51], and efficient and
secure communication protocols [16]. Today’s business models
are mostly based on static information architectures; these
models face challenges when the collected data are dynamic
and hard to be predicted. A successful IoT application must be
capable of supporting decision-making on complex objects [12].

C. IoT for Assembly Modeling

The challenges of ES for manufacturing enterprises are to
achieve system capability in dealing with the complexity and
decentralization of decision-making activities. The enablers of
assembly modeling must be modularized, decentralized, and
automated. IoT will provide the solution to these challenges.
On one hand, the private cloud or hybrid cloud can be established Fig. 2. Model template of product.
so that any data can be accessed by users, no matter how and
where the suppliers are geographically distributed. Regarding
the dynamics of data, IoT links all of the objects together, they are these requirements appropriately. An object-oriented model
monitored and real-time data can be collected. Uncertainties can template is also helpful to alleviate the complexity of product
be identified to support optimized decision-makings. On the development since less number of interactions will be involved.
other hand, IoT uses the service-oriented architecture [21], [40], Cooper and James [15] discussed the challenges of data man-
[41], [47], [50]; accessible distributed tools in IoT are modular- agement in IoT; computer representation of physical objects is
ized and interoperable. They can be aggregated to fulfill some needed to allow modeling and simulation of physical scenarios.
complicated decision-makings as needed. As shown in Fig. 1, To develop an assembly modeling system on the IoT infrastruc-
IoT provide the access of the distributed data from all of the ture, we propose a new methodology based on object-oriented
vendors related to assembly processes. The server for assembly templates: a model template of product family is first developed
modeling and planning in private or a hybrid cloud will be treated and the assembly model can be instantiated from the defined
as an object of IoT; i.e., the assembly modeling and planning will template [54], [57].
be accomplished by cloud computing. A model template represents basic elements and their relations
of products for a product family. To facilitate assembly model-
ing, a model template should include all required information
such as the classes of parts or components, assembly topologies,
III. OBJECT-ORIENTED PRODUCT MODEL TEMPLATES
options of connections, and assembly plans. Fig. 2 shows an
The IoT links distributed resources. For example, the CAD example of a model template. It consists of a hierarchical product
models of parts for a complex product are developed at different structure; i.e., a high-level assembly consists of a set of low-level
places, and assembly modeling and planning of the product is sub-assemblies. Each assembly consists of the classes of parts or
accomplished at another place. It is desirable that the product sub-components, assembly relations, constraints, as well as the
structure is modularized, so that components in assembly are assembly sequence. Depending on the requirements, each class
loosely coupled. The participators can modify and maintain their can be exploded to contain its detailed attributes. For example,
own part models without an unnecessary impact on the general the class of constraint is exploded so that the conditions for
assembly model. An object-oriented model template can meet contact and interference can be defined.
WANG et al.: IoT AND CLOUD COMPUTING IN AUTOMATION OF ASSEMBLY MODELING SYSTEMS 1429

Fig. 3. Class diagram of assembly connection relations.

Topological relations can be defined separately for an assem-

bly model template. Fig. 3 shows a classification of assembly
relations based on the physical connections between two
parts. For example, parts can be connected in temperately,
permanently, or with a joining relation, which allows a relative
motion. For a temperate connection, different parts, such as
screw set, keyway, or clutch can be applied.

IV. ALGORITHMS TO AUTOMATE ASSEMBLY MODELING

For assembly modeling, the critical tasks are to define the
assembly relations from given product CAD models automati-
cally. In this section, the assembly relations and interference
relations among parts and sub-assemblies are mainly concerned,
and the algorithms to retrieve the matrices for these relations
automatically are proposed. Fig. 4. Flowchart of generating the matrix of assembly relations.

A. Matrix for Assembly Relations

B. Interference Analysis in Generating Matrix
A complex product usually consists of many parts and sub-
assemblies. The most important information in a model template In defining assembly relations, two parts can be “closed,”
for the product assembly is the connection relations of parts. To “touched,” or “interfered ” with each other. A “closed” relation
retrieve it from the model template, a matrix for assembly happens when the distance between two parts is less than the
relations is defined as follows: tooling size. A “touched” relation happens when two parts make
Assume a model template of a product consists of parts, a physical contact without interference. An “interfered” relation
i.e., . An integer ( ; happens when a spatial volume is shared by two parts. Note
) represents the connection of and as that an interfered relation is not always inappropriate. For
example, a screw and nut should have an interfered relation
so that the fastening works adequately. However, it is critical to
analyze the interference in determining an assembly plan.
Fig. 4 shows the process of generating the matrix of
assembly relations with an interference analysis. Matrices ’s
for assembly relations are derived from the spatial positions of
parts in an assembly. Once a part is placed, all of its spatial
relations with other parts can be defined correspondingly. The
derived matrices ’s of assembly relations can be integrated
into any computer assistive software for assembly planning. For
example, such matrices can be utilized in sequence planning
Thus, is an matrix for the assembly relations to define assembly or disassembly paths as explained in
of the product. Section III-C.
1430 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, VOL. 10, NO. 2, MAY 2014

Fig. 5. Example of components with inclined assembly direction: (a) assembly

and (b) contact relations.

C. Extended Matrix for Assembly Paths

An extended matrix ( ) can be defined to include the
directions of assembly or disassembly. The directions should
be determined to avoid any interference along a path. No
algorithm has yet been reported to identify interference-free
paths automatically. In defining an EM, every part is positioned
with respect to its local coordinate system (LCS). LCS is usually
attached on the base feature of the part. It is desirable that a
direction for assembly or disassembly is coincident with an axis
of LCS or global coordinate system (GCS). For example, if a
thread is made on an inclined surface, the assembly direction for a
screw should be in line with an axis perpendicular to the inclined
surface.
Therefore, the directions of assembling or disassembling can
be specified either in the GCS or in an LCS. Denote the axes of
GCS and LCS as ( , , ) and ( , , ), respectively;
available operations of assembly directions for each part include
( , , , , , ) and ( , , ,
, , ); where subscripts and represent GCS and
LCS, respectively.
Assume that an assembly model consist of objects with
. The label represents the direction of
assembly or disassembly of with respect to , and the options
of directions are ( , , , , , , ,
, , , , ) as shown at the bottom of the
page. Then, is called an extended matrix
( ). Taking an example of the component in Fig. 5, its ’s
along and are
Fig. 6. Procedure of generating EMs.

matrices for other relations, which can be defined to integrate

assembly relation matrices ’s and ’s. For example,
assembly relations used in [1] can be defined from the assembly
relations in ’s and the interference relations can be found in
’s. Due to the complexity of relations, the dynamic genera-
tion of ’s takes more computation than the generation of
When planning an assembly sequence, parts with a negative assembly matrices ’s. The procedure of the automated gener-
value mean that they have been disassembled to avoid unneces- ation of ’s is depicted in Fig. 6. denotes a current part
sary calculation. Planning an assembly sequence needs other to be analyzed and denotes a part having an assembly relation
WANG et al.: IoT AND CLOUD COMPUTING IN AUTOMATION OF ASSEMBLY MODELING SYSTEMS 1431

Fig. 7. Model template of gas engines.

with . Due to intensive computation, it is recommended to their assembly relations in the product. At a high level, an engine
suspend other processes when the generation of ’s is in is built from three main components: compressor section, com-
process. bustor section, and turbine section. Each component can be
After both ’s and are defined, the next step is to plan decomposed into a new level to define the sub-catalogues of
assembling processes. It is not uncommon that a part has multiple components. For example, a turbine can be classified according
ways to be assembled, numerous combinations of assemblies to its working pressure into low-, medium-, or high-pressure
should be assessed in assembly modeling of a complex product. turbine. Any one of turbine includes stators and shafts. Numer-
An assembly plan consists of a scheme of processes, assembling ous assembly relations are involved in the template. The im-
paths, and sequence of assemblies. In a scheme of processes, plemented system is capable of: 1) creating assembly plans with
assembling resources are defined, the tolerances are given, and the information from solid models, product data management,
assembly paths are specified. An assembly path refers to a and designers’ inputs; 2) simulating and visualizing assembly
feasible route for assembling operations. A sequence of assem- processes; and 3) evaluating assembling plans.
blies gives the order to put all parts together as a final product. It An example of the generated assembly relation matrix is
should be noted that the planning of assistive tooling, such as shown in Fig. 8. It is a sub-assembly with 30 parts, and when
fixtures and gauges, has not been considered in this paper. the model of sub-assembly is loaded, the system first extracts the
information of parts to construct an assembling tree and calcu-
lates the bounding-box to determine the movement boundary of
V. CASE STUDY
each part when they are able to move. According to its structure,
To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, plan- we choose “partial coordinate axis” steeping interference detec-
ning of the assemblies of aircraft engines is used as a case study. tion. The system calculates the insert points according to the
Engines are complex products, since a typical aircraft engine length of each step, and drives it forward by steps. During this
has thousands of parts [14], [35], [60]. Until now, a standard process, the assembly relation matrices ’s and ’s are
reference model is not available to the automated assembly generated by using the proposed algorithms and the graphic user
planning. Therefore, a model template in Fig. 7 is first developed interfaces (GUIs) allow users to access the retrieved information.
for the assembly planning of the main bodies of gas engines. Note Fig. 8 has shown the examples of the graphic user information to
that the template defines basic parts and components, as well as access ’s and ’s.
1432 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, VOL. 10, NO. 2, MAY 2014

applied to support decision-makings at all of domains and levels

of ESs, and an ES should be designed in a way that strengths of
IoT can be fully utilized. In this paper, an automated system for
assembly modeling of complex products is discussed.
To meet new requirements of an ES built upon IoT infrastruc-
ture, the object-oriented model template is proposed for the
assembly planning. It inherits the advantages of object-oriented
methods and product template methods. It is very appropriate to
be applied in the distributed and decentralized environment.
Objects involved in a product template are encapsulated, and this
facilitates the reuse of assembly components and modularization
of information systems. Additionally, the assembly modeling for
a complex product has been automated. The system can retrieve
assembly relational matrices automatically from CAD models of
Fig. 8. GUI to retrieve ’s and ’s. product, the assembly sequences and exploded views can be
generated from the assembly relational matrices with little
manual intervention. The algorithms for the contact and inter-
ference relation matrices have been discussed in details. The
development of these algorithms have also motivated by the
deficiency of existing methodologies in structure representation
and information acquisition of assembly relation models. The
proposed matrix ( ) for assembly relations integrates the
contact relations and connection relations among functional parts
and accessory parts. EM solves the problem that previous
interference matrix could not be used to analyze the parts in
arbitrary directions. The generation of assembly relation matri-
ces is based on static interference analysis and the generation of
EM is based on dynamic interference analysis. The developed
assembly planning system can be interacted with the server with
the UG NX CAD/Cam system directly, and it meets the require-
ments of decentralization, modularization, and automation for
the adaption of IoT Infrastructure. The report work is prelimi-
nary; our further effort will explore cloud computing in support-
ing automated assembly modeling of complex products in a
distributed design environment.

Fig. 9. Chart of contact connections.

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1434 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, VOL. 10, NO. 2, MAY 2014

Chengen Wang (M’13–SM’13) received the Ph.D. Li Da Xu (M’86–SM’11) received the M.S. degree in
degree from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics information science and engineering from the Univer-
and Astronautics, Nanjing, China, in 1991. sity of Science and Technology of China, Hefei,
He is currently a Professor at Northeastern Univer- China, in 1981, and the Ph.D. degree in systems
sity, Shenyang, China. His research interests include science and engineering from Portland State Univer-
product assembly planning and simulation, product sity, Portland, OR, USA, in 1986.
design optimization, and finite element method. Dr. Xu serves as the Founding Chair of IFIP TC8
WG8.9 and the Founding Chair of the IEEE SMC
Society Technical Committee on Enterprise Informa-
tion Systems.

Zhuming Bi (M’11–SM’12) received the Ph.D.

degrees from the Harbin Institute of Technology,
Harbin, China, and the University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatoon, SK, Canada, in 1994 and 2002, respec-
tively.
He is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engi-
neering at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort
Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN, USA. His current research
interests include mechatronics, automatic robotic pro-
cessing, reconfigurable manufacturing, and assem-
bling systems.

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