The Professional Community Discusses the Standard for the Next Generation of Automation

Plug & Produce With IEC 61499 Industry Experts Discuss Standards for the Next Generation of Automation

2025-10-24 Source: Universal Automation.org | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

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The international who-is-who of the Universal Automation community visited the University in Porto. Various events on the IEC 61499 standard were on the agenda.

With its runtime execution engine managed as shared source and available free of licensing costs, Universal Automation.Org provides an independent automation layer for OT components.(Image: © InfiniteFlow - stock.adobe.com) — With its runtime execution engine managed as shared source and available free of licensing costs, Universal Automation.Org provides an independent automation layer for OT components.
(Image: © InfiniteFlow - stock.adobe.com)

At the international IEEE ETFA 2025 conference in Porto, the IEC 61499 standard became the focus of attention. According to a statement from Universal Automation.Org (UAO), the topic was highlighted in several workshops and panels that brought together leading scientists and industry representatives. Experts such as Prof. Alois Zoitl (JKU Linz) and Prof. Valeriy Vyatkin (LTU/Aalto University) presented current research findings and best practices on topics such as Plug & Produce, Low Code Engineering, and the open-source framework Eclipse 4diac. Companies like Kongsberg Maritime also demonstrated how IEC 61499 is already being used in safety-critical offshore applications.

IEC 61499—Basis for Manufacturer-Independent Automation

IEC 61499 is an international standard for model-based, distributed control programming in industrial automation. It describes an event-driven function block model that enables automation logic to be designed in a modular, reusable, and platform-independent manner. In contrast to the traditional IEC 61131, IEC 61499 strictly separates application logic from hardware execution. This allows the same control software to run on different devices, regardless of the manufacturer or platform used.

As part of the industry forum, representatives from Stratus, Yokogawa, Novo Nordisk, and system integrators from Europe discussed practical experiences. The central goal: decoupling automation software and hardware using UAO's Runtime Execution Engine—a license-free, vendor-independent automation framework. This approach enables cross-platform code reuse and the independent management of hardware and software cycles. UAO now has over 110 member companies, including many universities that teach the open IEC 61499 approach, thereby preparing the next generation of automation engineers for an interoperable future.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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