Modelling of the NAMUR NE 178 “Verification of Request” concept using Pro-Active Asset Administration Shells

Abstract The NAMUR automation pyramid is the current state of the art in the process control industry, it is a monolithic structure with a bidirectional flow of information (top-down/bottom-up). Introducing new technologies into this structure would imply modifying or replacing the existing infrastructure. NAMUR NE 175 opens up this closed structure with a new NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA) to provide read-only access to external interfaces without changing the existing structure, safely, securely and reliably. In continuation of NE 175, NE 178 presents a verification of request concept to allow external Monitoring and Optimization applications to have write access to the devices. This paper attempts to model the actors involved in this concept and their interactions using the Pro-Active AAS introduces an interaction protocol and demonstrates the concept using a single water tank case study.