Hierarchical composition of industrial components

In this paper we focus on the hierarchical composition of instances of arbitrary industrial component models yielding new (compound) components with specified capabilities and requirements which can themselves be composed to yield higher level components. For this purpose special component interfaces and component implementations are defined which ensure a smooth integration of industrial components. The component implementations of compound components enable a late binding by referring to enclosed component instances only by their component interfaces. But also explicit bindings between component interfaces and component implementations can be defined. A type system for components is introduced enabling a formal definition of exchangeability and interoperability of components. Using this type system, tools are able to decide which components may be exchanged by others and which components fit together. They can also support the creation of new components from existing ones by checking a new assembly for consistency.