Automatic generation of function block applications using evolutionary algorithms: Initial explorations

Automation of software development process has been a concern for a long time. Genetic programming is a well-known technique which uses evolutionary computation to generate or improve a computer program for a specific task without human participation. We consider the method which applies model checking and evolutionary computation towards the automatic generation of function block control applications for industrial automation systems. As a first step, we evaluate the effectiveness of a fitness function based on the number of satisfied computation tree logic formulas in UPPAAL query language for a manually created UPPAAL model. Results show that such fitness function and the (1+1) evolutionary algorithm can be successfully applied to generation of the required data connections in the IEC 61499 function block application.