An Interpreter-Based Execution Framework for IEC 61499 Function Block Networks

By: Bianca Wiesmayr, Antonio Garmendia, Alois Zoitl, Manuel Wimmer

Abstract

Control software of cyber-physical production systems can be modeled using the domain-specific language defined in the IEC 61499 standard. The event-based execution model of this language accurately reflects the behavior of distributed control systems and its block-based diagrams facilitate component orientation. However, when applying the standard to larger-scale automation systems, engineers require sophisticated methods and tools. In particular, current testing methods rely on executing control software after its deployment to dedicated devices or runtime environments. This typically requires a complex setup involving control hardware, software, and communication infrastructure, which is time-consuming and error-prone. In contrast, the aim of this paper is to enable early feedback during the development of control software by interpreting the hardware-independent Application model. Our interpreter-based execution framework for IEC 61499 Function Block (FB) networks directly executes the software model, records execution traces, and visualizes these traces, e.g., for testing purposes. We have evaluated the functional correctness of our approach with respect to the execution semantics of the IEC 61499 execution environment 4diac FORTE by using a compliance test suite. Although the interpreter does not mimic the real-time behavior of the cyber-physical production systems, developers receive early feedback on the event-based execution logic. According to our scalability test, interpreting medium-sized control applications (a few thousand executed FB instances) is fast enough to provide control engineers with rapid feedback on the implemented behavior. We also used our interpreter and its accompanying tools for analyzing an existing IEC 61499 Application, which showed that the interpreter can assist in the development process. Overall, the evaluation shows that Application models can be efficiently interpreted for providing early validation feedback to engineers before moving to hardware- and communication-specific tests.

Keywords

Control software, Model-driven engineering, Model interpreters, Development tools

Cite as:

Bianca Wiesmayr, Antonio Garmendia, Alois Zoitl, Manuel Wimmer, “An Interpreter-Based Execution Framework for IEC 61499 Function Block Networks”, Journal of Object Technology, Volume 25, no. 3 ( 2026), pp. 3:239-252, doi:10.5381/jot.2026.25.3.a19.