Data exchange toward PLC programming and virtual commissioning: Is AutomationML an appropriate data exchange format?

Lossless data exchange is one of the recent investigated paths for engineering process improvement with respect to engineering process quality and efficiency. AutomationML is one data exchange format in a broad range of modern XML based data formats developed for the improvement of engineering processes of manufacturing systems. In this paper the applicability of AutomationML is proven for transferring PLC programming and virtual commissioning relevant information within the engineering process.