Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 describes the integration of digital technologies with industrial production. Connected controllers and sensors, industrial networks, software and data analysis allow equipment and production systems to exchange information and coordinate operation.

For automation engineers, the core task remains: understand how a process behaves, define safe and useful control strategies, and implement them with appropriate hardware and software. Modern industrial automation brings these tasks together with embedded computing, industrial communications, simulation and data-driven monitoring.

At AEP, the topic connects to the department’s research in intelligent industrial automation and to the G7 Automation, Computer-Integrated Technologies and Robotics specialty.