AAS on Azure with Azure Digital Twins

04/11/2023 | Blog

The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) is a promising standard for Industry 4.0 to link data in an increasingly digitized production. A brief overview of what an AAS actually is can be found in the corresponding Techshorty Asset Administration Shell for Industry 4.0. However, it remains an open question how exactly such an AAS can be implemented in one's own company.

For one thing, it is important to be able to set up an AAS infrastructure as quickly and easily as possible. In addition, integration into any existing Cloud infrastructure and enterprise requirements for security and scalability are also important.

M&M Software offers an easy and free entry via open-source implementations and Azure resources. This open-source solution was initiated by Microsoft and the AAS repository was implemented by M&M Software. The corresponding repository is publicly located on GitHub: https://github.com/JMayrbaeurl/opendigitaltwins-aas-azureservices. With the included scripts, the required services can be deployed in one's own Azure subscription with little prior knowledge.

The AAS registry is running in the background on a Cosmos DB. The REST API of the AAS registry and the AAS repository are deployed as Docker containers in an Azure Container Apps instance. This also allows for easy scaling of the services.

The Azure Digital Twins Service is used as database for the AAS Repository. This is a service in which digital twins can be created and linked with each other. Using its own query language and SDKs for various programming languages, it is possible to work with the data in the Azure Digital Twins Service. During the implementation of the AAS repository by M&M Software, valuable experience was gained in the use of this service, which can also be applied to other projects.

Feel free to start with the scripts in the open-source GitHub repository and set up your own AAS infrastructure with AAS server and AAS registry in no time. The project can also serve as a basis for your own further developments. For example, the Azure Digital Twins service can also be replaced by a graph database such as Neo4j.

M&M Software as a service provider offers the possibility to realize own adaptations and integrations. For further questions, please contact our team of experts.

About the author

Marcus Schüle is a software developer at M&M Software and is passionate about Industry 4.0 and Cloud technologies. He earned his master's degree at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences with a thesis on the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). In projects here at M&M Software, his knowledge of the Asset Administration Shell could be used and expanded in practice.

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