ScaleLog - Skalierbare Logistiksysteme

ScaleLog - Scalable Logistic Systems

In March 2012, the Software Systems Engineering (SSE) group at the University of Hildesheim started the research project ScaleLog. In the next 24 months the SSE group cooperates with Klug GmbH Integrierte Systeme, one of the leading specialists in intra-logistic solutions. The focus of this project, funded by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (BMWi), is on the development of a scalable intra-logistic platform. The basis for this work is the intra-logistic platform IWACS (Integrated Warehouse Administration & Control System), which supports the management, controlling, and monitoring of all tasks and business process of a warehouse. However, each warehouse differs significantly in its topology, technical features, and its field of application. Thus, the goal of the ScaleLog-project is to develop efficient software solutions for different types of warehouses and to guarantee error-free and effective updates of the running software.

Today, we distinguish between two types of warehouses: manual and automated warehouses. The migration from a small, manual system to a complex and highly-automated system typically requires a change of the intra-logistic software. Beside error-free updates, the main goal of the project is to support this system-migration. In this project, an intra-logistic platform (based on IWACS) will be developed that allows the migration from a manual to an automated warehouse. This will be achieved by a variant-based approach and a software architecture that will be adapted accordingly. Further, an update-mechanism will be developed that allows separate updates of specific parts of the IWACS-system. These kinds of updates require, in particular, an automated integration test of individual parts of the system to be effective and secure. This solution will support the easy and efficient derivation of customer-specific products from the IWACS-architecture, as well as subsequent, error-free extensions of these products.

In ScaleLog, the Software Systems Engineering (SSE) group at the University of Hildesheim focuses on the efficient and automated customization of the warehouse software. The group will contribute their expertise in Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) to refine existing techniques as well as to develop and implement new techniques for the domain of intra-logistic software.
SPLE is an approach for efficient reuse of software artifacts aiming at the automation of configuration and adaptation of product variants. This approach reduces both development costs and time-to-market while increasing quality of the software artifacts. The focus of the research of the SSE group is on modern methods and techniques to achieve high efficiency and flexibility in software development.

Duration: 03-01-2012 – 02-28-2014

Contact: Prof. Dr. Klaus Schmid

ScaleLog is funded by the Zentrales Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand für Kooperationsprojekte (ZIM-Koop) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie (BMWi), grant number KF2912401SS1.