Programmable Logic Controllers

Dear Colleagues,

Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) form an important technological basis for manufacturing automation. In the era of the fourth Industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), PLCs must fulfill a range of requirements, resulting from new production conditions. However, programmable logic controllers will continue to be required to a considerable extent for the production of tomorrow in order to cut production costs, increase quality, etc. Programmable technology with multiprocessor systems-on-a-chip (MPSoC) brings new possibilities for constructing new PLCs, central processing units, function blocks, application-specific blocks, and others.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide a possibility for scientists and practitioners related to programmable logic controller to present their research. Topics of interest focus on (but are not limited to) the hardware aspects in which innovations bring significant improvements in the system performance:

• PLC / CPU / function blocks design;
• Fuzzy logic controllers;
• Reconfigurable controllers;
• Intelligent control and systems;
• Hardware implementation of control programs;
• Competitor and distributed control systems;
• Industrial networks;
• Control systems, concurrent control systems, automatic control and robotics;
• Distributed and networked control systems;
• Control algorithms and methodologies;
• Design methodologies of PLC;
• Model-based design, including model-driven development, unified modeling language (UML, SysML), etc .;
• Concurrency modeling and analysis, including Petri net-based control systems;
• Optimization techniques of PLC;
• Verification and validation techniques, including formal verification methods;
• Integrated tool suits for PLC design, analysis and verification;
• Computation models, including mathematical descriptions and models;
• Real-time systems, including real-time sensing and computing;
• Embedded systems;
• Networked embedded systems;
• Internet of things, including aspects of designing, organization and implementation of control systems;
• Cyberphysical systems and Industry 4.0.

Pro. Dr. Dariusz Kania
Pro. Dr. Robert Czerwiński
Guest Editors

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