Doctoral theses of the School of Electrical Engineering are available in the open access repository maintained by Aalto, Aaltodoc.
Public defence in Automation and Control Engineering, M.Sc.(Tech.) Tuojian Lyu
Transforming Industrial Automation: An Intelligent Cloud Platform for Virtual Testing of Smart Factories
Public defence from the Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation
Public defence from the Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation
The title of the thesis: Towards Cloud-based Virtual Commissioning of Distributed Automation Systems
Thesis defender: Tuojian Lyu
Opponent: Prof. André DionÃsio Rocha, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
Custos: Prof. Valeriy Vyatkin, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering
Transforming Industrial Automation: An Intelligent Cloud Platform for Virtual Testing of Smart Factories Modern manufacturing systems are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring extensive testing before deployment. This doctoral thesis developed CloViC (Cloud-based Virtual Commissioning), an innovative platform that enables engineers to test and validate industrial automation systems virtually in the cloud before deploying them in real factories.
Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing demand rapidly adaptable automation systems. Currently, commissioning is time-consuming and expensive, often requiring weeks of manual configuration and physical hardware testing. This research makes virtual testing automated, accurate, and accessible via web browsers. The research created three major innovations. First, the platform automatically scans control programs and sets up virtual environments, reducing configuration time from weeks to minutes. Second, it systematically measures controller performance across different hardware and determines optimal deployment strategies. Third, using Large Language Models, the system understands plain-language test specifications, monitors system behavior, and generates diagnostic reports.
Manufacturing companies can use CloViC to test production systems before building physical lines, reducing commissioning time by 40-60%. It enables hardware configuration optimization, safe legacy system upgrades, operator training, and remote commissioning. The platform supports diverse applications from automotive assembly to water treatment plants.
Key words: Distributed automation systems, virtual commissioning, industrial artificial intelligence
Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at .
Doctoral theses of the School of Electrical Engineering
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