Ciberfactory – Technology enablers in cyberphysical and virtual environments for the industry of the future

Project Description:

The Technological Enablers in cyber-physical and virtual environments for the industry of the future (CiberFactory) project consists of industrial research on enabling technologies to increase ITCL’s technological capacity and its competitiveness in the technology sector, with demonstrators that facilitate bringing the experiences closer to regional industrial interests.

Problem to be solved:

To endow the components and physical objects that we encounter on a regular basis in our work environment, with computing and communication capabilities to turn them into intelligent objects. In this way, the cyber-physical systems studied will surpass embedded systems in terms of capacity, security, scalability, adaptability, resilience and usability, being able to work together to form distributed and fully autonomous ecosystems.

At this point, it is when the research of the different enabling technologies proposed will give sense to the joint design of a cyber-physical system, where the physical and digital worlds are combined, researching in the laboratory on industrial use cases, overcoming barriers and offering new capabilities and developments adapted to the industrial environment of Castilla y León.

Project Resolution Objectives:

As a main objective, the enabling technologies analyzed in the project allow defining a new framework over the digital world, building a communication network that allows interconnecting IIOT devices.

The interconnected IIOT devices have the capability of identification, sensing and processing, with their own virtual identity and with the potential to integrate and interact independently in the network with any other element, machines, people and objects within that environment.

Overall Objectives

Cutting-edge research on technologies that develop the latest generation Cyber-Physical Systems (hereinafter, CPS) that are incorporated in embedded electronics, offering robustness, new secure and advanced alternatives to the Industrial Internet of Things (hereinafter, IIoT).
Research on MID (Moulded Interconnect Device) and 3D (additive manufacturing – 3D printing) electronic circuit manufacturing techniques, incorporating additive technology using inks or conductive pastes in the printing processes of electronic circuits.
Special research for antenna size reduction and power optimization in LPWA networks (low power long range networks) to reduce current limitations in software and hardware designs of IIoT devices.
Research of wireless technologies on CPS systems oriented to low-power devices that make use of LPWA technologies, which recharge the battery of unattended devices installed in the industrial environment.
Industrial research on tools and technologies for analysis, optimization, visualization and routing of production processes.
Advanced research into digital twin techniques and digital process modeling through simulations so that the configuration and use of these virtualized production systems can predict energy and operating behavior and/or anticipate system failures.
Research on virtual reality and simulation technologies in cyber-physical platforms that facilitate the integration of new e-learning modalities, the visualization of real-time data on 3D twins and the neurological and physiological responses in the use of simulators for industry.
Industrial research of artificial vision and augmented reality in cyber-physical platforms using Deep Learning techniques, guidance and recognition of indicators in the change of references and in the recognition of users’ movements.

Technical objectives:

Investigation of cyber-physical systems and the connection of the physical and digital world.
Research of systems with secure and advanced technology in electronics for use as industrial cyber-physical systems.
Research into new MID and 3D electronic circuit fabrication techniques.
Research on antenna development and power optimization in LPWA networks.
Investigation of wireless technologies on CPS systems.
Research on software platform for IIOT environments in production process optimizations.
New industrial process modeling techniques on digital twin.
New techniques Virtual Reality and simulation on cyber-physical platforms.
New techniques Artificial Vision and Augmented Reality on cyber-physical platforms.