Harmonization of Heterogeneous Asset Administration Shells

In the era of digital transformation of the manufacturing and process industry, heterogeneity of assets is one of the most challenging issues towards digitally integrating components within the Industrial Internet of Things. In this context every participant relies on its proprietary digitalization approach envisioned by Plattform Industrie 4.0. To consolidate these heterogeneous data exchange interfaces, e.g communication protocols, data formats etc., an intermediate step of harmonization is required. Our contribution provides an architecture based on the Asset Administration Shell standard to bring heterogeneous Cyber-Physical-Systems together. We illustrate the functionality through an abstract use-case.