Recent developments on model-centric technologies to support plant operations - supported by state-of-the art simulation environments open the opportunities for performing large-scale parameter estimation-data reconciliation, dynamic simulation, dynamic optimisation and model-based control applications in complex dynamic industrial environments. They also provide an environment to exploit the synergistic interactions among model-based activities in manufacturing plants and more importantly they have production & economic implications on enterprise operations.

In this project we propose an innovative approach for simplifying the problem formulation by incorporating the Problem Definition Environment (PDE) to support current developments in Open Simulation/Optimization Architectures by the computer aided processes engineering community. While offering a user-friendly environment for problem formulation, it gives the opportunity to perform related model-based activities such as simulation, parameter estimation, data reconciliation and optimization using a single model representation.