Concept for Deriving System Architectures from Reference Architectures

The reuse of existing architectural solutions is a key enabler for the optimization of engineering of industrial production systems with respect to cost, time, and quality. In order to achieve systematic reuse of architectural solutions within the design process of specific systems, the standard “VDI 3695” determines the use of reference architectures as one possible option. Often, within the development of industrial production systems, individual aspects and specific requirements need to be regarded, which may not be fully represented by a reference architecture. In order to create specific system architectures based on reference architectures an approach is needed that considers a mix of existing and newly defined architecture content, which must be integrated in the process of designing system architectures. Therefore, within this paper, an approach for the creation of system architectures based on a reference architecture is presented, with the goal of supporting the engineering of such production systems.