Using Modules to Manage the Content of IEC 61499 Type Libraries

This work analyzes the problems that arise in IEC 61499 development due to the fact that there are no ways of structuring type libraries. As a result of this analysis we derived requirements for integrating modules into the IEC 61499 specification. The modules that are portable among several runtime providers and vendors can be imported into IEC 61499 systems. Every module contains a set of function blocks that can be used inside the application. The proposed IEC 61499 module has its own version and namespace. It is also capable of defining dependencies on each other. Reusability from types can be increased by dividing the type library into several parts with the help of the proposed modules.