Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources

Jose Cabral; Alois Zoitl

doi:10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784

Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources

Jose Cabral^*
, Alois Zoitl^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

LIT Cyber-Physical Systems Lab

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceedings › peer-review

Abstract

The debugging capabilities in the automation domain lag behind those in other domains. One obstacle to debugging systems in the automation domain is the presence of heavy and costly machinery connected to the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Replay debugging presents an opportunity to overcome this issue by allowing the user to debug a system with full control and observability, without the real system being connected. During the first stage of replay debugging, information is captured while the system is running. This is then used during the second stage to reproduce the system in a safe environment.This work focuses on a viability analysis of replay debugging for Function Block networks within resources modelled according to the IEC 61499 standard. In order to reduce the execution impact of information capture, the work presents an approach where only a small subset of the run-time information is captured and can be used in an offline stage to generate the full execution behaviour of an IEC 61499 resource. Thorough tests and experiments show that the reproduction of the original states is possible.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)
Editors	Luis Almeida, Marina Indria, Mario de Sousa, Antonio Visioli, Mohammad Ashjaei, Pedro Santos
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	1-8
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9798331553838
ISBN (Print)	979-8-3315-5384-5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784
Publication status	Published - 21 Oct 2025
Event	2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) - Porto, Portugal Duration: 09 Sept 2025 → 12 Sept 2025

Publication series

Name	IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA
ISSN (Print)	1946-0740
ISSN (Electronic)	1946-0759

Conference

Conference	2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)
Period	09.09.2025 → 12.09.2025

Fields of science

202003 Automation
102022 Software development
202017 Embedded systems
202041 Computer engineering
102029 Practical computer science
102025 Distributed systems
102 Computer Sciences

JKU Focus areas

Digital Transformation

Access to Document

10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11205784

Cite this

Cabral, J., & Zoitl, A. (2025). Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources. In L. Almeida, M. Indria, M. de Sousa, A. Visioli, M. Ashjaei, & P. Santos (Eds.), 2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) (pp. 1-8). Article 11205784 (IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784

Cabral, Jose ; Zoitl, Alois. / Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources. 2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA). editor / Luis Almeida ; Marina Indria ; Mario de Sousa ; Antonio Visioli ; Mohammad Ashjaei ; Pedro Santos. IEEE, 2025. pp. 1-8 (IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA).

@inproceedings{1052f256fa9448e6b3c4340e701115ce,

title = "Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources",

abstract = "The debugging capabilities in the automation domain lag behind those in other domains. One obstacle to debugging systems in the automation domain is the presence of heavy and costly machinery connected to the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Replay debugging presents an opportunity to overcome this issue by allowing the user to debug a system with full control and observability, without the real system being connected. During the first stage of replay debugging, information is captured while the system is running. This is then used during the second stage to reproduce the system in a safe environment.This work focuses on a viability analysis of replay debugging for Function Block networks within resources modelled according to the IEC 61499 standard. In order to reduce the execution impact of information capture, the work presents an approach where only a small subset of the run-time information is captured and can be used in an offline stage to generate the full execution behaviour of an IEC 61499 resource. Thorough tests and experiments show that the reproduction of the original states is possible.",

keywords = "Analytical models, Runtime, Programmable logic devices, Debugging, Logic, IEC Standards, Observability, Machinery, Standards, Manufacturing automation",

author = "Jose Cabral and Alois Zoitl",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784",

language = "English",

isbn = "979-8-3315-5384-5",

series = "IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA",

publisher = "IEEE",

pages = "1--8",

editor = "Luis Almeida and Marina Indria and \{de Sousa\}, Mario and Antonio Visioli and Mohammad Ashjaei and Pedro Santos",

booktitle = "2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)",

note = "2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) ; Conference date: 09-09-2025 Through 12-09-2025",

}

Cabral, J & Zoitl, A 2025, Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources. in L Almeida, M Indria, M de Sousa, A Visioli, M Ashjaei & P Santos (eds), 2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)., 11205784, IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA, IEEE, pp. 1-8, 2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), 09.09.2025. https://doi.org/10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784

Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources. / Cabral, Jose; Zoitl, Alois.
2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA). ed. / Luis Almeida; Marina Indria; Mario de Sousa; Antonio Visioli; Mohammad Ashjaei; Pedro Santos. IEEE, 2025. p. 1-8 11205784 (IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceedings › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources

AU - Cabral, Jose

AU - Zoitl, Alois

PY - 2025/10/21

Y1 - 2025/10/21

N2 - The debugging capabilities in the automation domain lag behind those in other domains. One obstacle to debugging systems in the automation domain is the presence of heavy and costly machinery connected to the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Replay debugging presents an opportunity to overcome this issue by allowing the user to debug a system with full control and observability, without the real system being connected. During the first stage of replay debugging, information is captured while the system is running. This is then used during the second stage to reproduce the system in a safe environment.This work focuses on a viability analysis of replay debugging for Function Block networks within resources modelled according to the IEC 61499 standard. In order to reduce the execution impact of information capture, the work presents an approach where only a small subset of the run-time information is captured and can be used in an offline stage to generate the full execution behaviour of an IEC 61499 resource. Thorough tests and experiments show that the reproduction of the original states is possible.

AB - The debugging capabilities in the automation domain lag behind those in other domains. One obstacle to debugging systems in the automation domain is the presence of heavy and costly machinery connected to the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Replay debugging presents an opportunity to overcome this issue by allowing the user to debug a system with full control and observability, without the real system being connected. During the first stage of replay debugging, information is captured while the system is running. This is then used during the second stage to reproduce the system in a safe environment.This work focuses on a viability analysis of replay debugging for Function Block networks within resources modelled according to the IEC 61499 standard. In order to reduce the execution impact of information capture, the work presents an approach where only a small subset of the run-time information is captured and can be used in an offline stage to generate the full execution behaviour of an IEC 61499 resource. Thorough tests and experiments show that the reproduction of the original states is possible.

KW - Analytical models

KW - Runtime

KW - Programmable logic devices

KW - Debugging

KW - Logic

KW - IEC Standards

KW - Observability

KW - Machinery

KW - Standards

KW - Manufacturing automation

UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11205784/

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105021809324

U2 - 10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784

DO - 10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784

M3 - Conference proceedings

SN - 979-8-3315-5384-5

T3 - IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA

SP - 1

EP - 8

BT - 2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)

A2 - Almeida, Luis

A2 - Indria, Marina

A2 - de Sousa, Mario

A2 - Visioli, Antonio

A2 - Ashjaei, Mohammad

A2 - Santos, Pedro

PB - IEEE

T2 - 2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA)

Y2 - 9 September 2025 through 12 September 2025

ER -

Cabral J, Zoitl A. Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources. In Almeida L, Indria M, de Sousa M, Visioli A, Ashjaei M, Santos P, editors, 2025 IEEE 30th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA). IEEE. 2025. p. 1-8. 11205784. (IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, ETFA). doi: 10.1109/ETFA65518.2025.11205784

Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Fields of science

JKU Focus areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Christian Doppler Laboratory for Mastering Variability in Software-intensive Cyber-physical Production Systems (CDL VaSiCS)

Cite this

Offline Reproduction of Function Block Networks in IEC 61499 Resources

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Fields of science

JKU Focus areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Projects

Christian Doppler Laboratory for Mastering Variability in Software-intensive Cyber-physical Production Systems (CDL VaSiCS)

Cite this