Collaboration in Supply Chains for Development of CPS Enabled by Semantic Web Technologies

Abstract

The development of Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPS) requires new ways of collaboration between ICPS vendors and companies which provide them with parts and components. As ICPS extend existing systems, e.g. machines or healthcare equipment, by electronic components, new supply chains will evolve between companies which were not connected before. Hence, traditional methods for collaboration will not fit for them anymore. We propose a new approach for collaborations in ICPS development. It relies on technologies from the Semantic Web and consists of a web platform where ICPS vendors and vendors of electrical, electronical, information and communication technology components can virtually meet. Component vendors can describe their products, ICPS element vendors their product ideas and requirements. To match requirements and offers, semantic descriptions of both are necessary. Then, matching of requirements and offers will be realized by semantic reasoners. They have to find RDF graph chains which link requirement and offer descriptions.