Distributed Ledger Architecture for Automation, Analytics and Simulation in Industrial Environments

Abstract The advent of Industry4.0 has given rise to a large number of digital manufacturing systems, which are currently used to digitize industry and transform industrial processes like automation, maintenance and quality control. The present paper introduces a first-of-a-kind reference architecture for developing industrial automation systems based on edge computing and blockchain technologies. It also presents the design of a platform that implements this reference architecture with a view to providing functionalities in three complementary domains, namely automation, production systems’ virtualization and data analytics. The presented platform is destined to provide some distinct performance and reliability advantages, based on its edge computing and blockchain foundations.