University of Cambridge
Evaluating the role of reference architectures in designing low-cost digital manufacturing systems
Abstract
dc:description.abstractA low-cost digital manufacturing system is a special type of digital system, that consists of a combination of low-cost components and meets entry-level digitalisation needs of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). This thesis concerns the design, design extension and integration of low-cost digital systems used in manufacturing. Low-cost components are inexpensive hardware or software elements that are part of a digital manufacturing system and serve a specific function for that system. Such low-cost components may not offer the same level of completeness as more expensive industrial alternatives and may need to be combined with other components to become comparable. Apart from that, the overall cost of a digital manufacturing system is not governed by the components costs alone, but also includes the time spend for the design, development and deployment, which puts significant constraints on the design approach, such as the need for common interfaces. In the literature, most designs of low-cost digital manufacturing systems are ad-hoc where the design is not driven by any specific approach. There are, however, low-cost digital manufacturing systems that are designed in a more structured manner. Some of these designs are based around system architectures, while others adopt reference architectures to achieve high levels of configurability. System architectures conceptualise the structure and function of a single implemented system through a virtual description of its assets. Reference architectures structure the design of systems by providing a solution template with common terminology that can apply to many implemented systems. While reference architectures broadly describe the system elements that could be considered for different applications, system architectures consist only of a subset of these elements as required for a specific application. A reference architecture based approach to design gives the potential for being more repeatable and versatile, and is capable of yielding highly reusable digital manufacturing systems. However, thus far reference architectures have not been used to address the constraints imposed in design by a low-cost digital manufacturing system. This thesis aims to evaluate the effectiveness of reference architectures in supporting low-cost digital manufacturing system design, design extension and integration. For that purpose, three candidate reference architectures relevant to low-cost digital manufacturing are selected and used to create different case study designs. The effectiveness in each case is evaluated by applying a set of metrics to these designs. This thesis shows that reference architectures are capable of effectively supporting the systematic design, extension and integration of low-cost digital manufacturing systems, and provide advantages in terms of reusability and interoperability through standardised interfaces. However, developers need to consider the various trade-offs that occur during the design process when adopting a particular reference architecture. In particular, a key trade-off revolves around enhancing the reusability of a design while simultaneously minimising its complexity, for example, in terms of the overall number of design steps required.
Degree
thesis:*- Name dc:type.qualificationname
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
- Doctoral
- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- University of Cambridge
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2023
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Kaiser, Jan
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- McFarlane, Duncan
Subjects
dc:subject × 9Rights
dc:rightsIdentifiers
dc:identifier.*- DOI dc:identifier.doi
- https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.108505
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/368192