Congratulations to Jan Strohschein (2nd person from the right), who successfully mastered his doctoral examination last week. The title of his thesis is “Big Data Reference Architecture for Industry 4.0, Economic and Ethical Implications”. Dr. Strohschein works in the research project KOARCH.
In addition to the Institute for Data Science, Engineering, and Analytics (IDE+A) at TH Köln, the Institute for Informatics at TH Köln, and the Institute for Industrial Information Technology (inIT) of the OWL University, partners from industry are also involved in the research project, including Deutsche Telekom AG, Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs), telexiom AG, and OPITZ Consulting. KOARCH is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) over a period of four years with a total of 1.5 million euros.
About KOARCH. Rapid changes in global markets, increasing number of variants and product complexity as well as increased software requirements mean that conventional production systems quickly reach their limits. Resources could be saved if the production systems recognize errors through the analysis of data and optimize themselves independently – but the integration of suitable solutions in the company often fails. The required technologies are application-specific and associated with a high level of effort for implementation. A reference architecture should enable these technologies to be implemented easily and inexpensively.
In the KOARCH project, industrial companies and research institutions are working on a new automation technology that is to be made more efficient with artificial intelligence. The overarching goal of those involved in the project: Different Industry 4.0 devices and components should work together regardless of manufacturer, while jointly accessing data and information such as anomalies or optimization goals. An exchange of algorithms and solution strategies should also be established so that a network of cooperating production plants is created.
