Evolution of software in automated production systems: challenges and research directions

Abstract

Coping with evolution in automated production systems implies cross-disciplinary challenges along the system's life-cycle for variant-rich systems of high complexity. We provide an interdisciplinary survey on challenges and research directions in the evolution of automated production systems. After an initial discussion about the nature of automated production systems and their specific development process, we sketch in this extended abstract the challenges associated with evolution in the different development phases and a couple of cross-cutting areas.