What is ISO/TR 16161 - Automation systems and integration about?
ISO/TR 16161 describes an approach for using ISO 16100 to achieve cooperation between software agents by exchanging Manufacturing Software Unit (MSU) capability profiles. The exchanged profiles among agents describe the manufacturing capabilities requested by the requester and to be fulfilled by the performer.
ISO/TR 16161 describes an application of ISO 16100. Manufacturing software agents, which are one type of MSU, achieve interoperation using capability profiles specified in ISO 16100. ISO/TR 16161 describes message language and protocol for software agents to collaborate with each other to emerge systems function. Presenting the MSU capability profile defined in ISO 16100-3, the agents mutually recognize the capability of manufacturing activity and recognizable messages.
Who is ISO/TR 16161 - Automation systems and integration for?
ISO/TR 16161 on Automation systems and integration is useful for:
- The automation industry
- Software programmers
- Robotics process automation industry
- Software manufacturers
Why should you use ISO/TR 16161 - Automation systems and integration?
The motivation for ISO 16100 stems from the industrial and economic environment, in particular:
- A growing base of vendor-specific solutions
- User difficulties in applying standards
- The need to move to modular sets of system integration tools
- The recognition that application software and the expertise to apply that software are assets of the enterprise
ISO 16100 is an International Standard for the computer-interpretable and human-readable representation of a capability profile. Its goal is to provide a method to represent the capability of a MSU in manufacturing application software relative to its role throughout the life cycle of a manufacturing application, independent of particular system architecture or implementation platform. This can lead to reduced production and information management costs to users and vendors/suppliers of manufacturing applications. Software agents that need manufacturing activities are called customers, and agents that provide manufacturing activities are called performers. Customers describe the request messages for manufacturing activities by the message language. Performers describe the report messages of the result of the manufacturing activities by the message language. Agent Communication Language (ACL), proposed by the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA), is a message language exchanged with multi-agents, and the protocol that defines the sequence of messages is a protocol to which the framework of interaction protocol is applied and identifies the agent in order to use the ontology prescribed by FIPA.
ISO/TR 16161 describes the protocol and message language in which the software agent acting as a customer and the software agent acting as a performer interact in a one-to-one manner and each software agent is identified using a capability profile specified in ISO 16100-3. Therefore, the protocol and message language described in ACL and in ISO/TR 16161 are different. Automating and integrating are vital for service providers as it can give the organization a competitive edge. It improves the user experience for customers and has long-term benefits of increased value and brand loyalty. ISO/TR 16161 guidelines are important to both the service providers and your customers.
