Large IEC 61499 applications are long-living engineering assets. They grow over time, rely on reusable function blocks and data types, and must be maintained without breaking existing systems. This webinar gives a short overview of Eclipse 4diac and then focuses on how 4diac IDE supports the maintenance of larger control applications. 

The session introduces recent improvements in Eclipse 4diac 3.1 and shows how library management can help structure reusable types through clearer project organization, explicit dependencies, versioned libraries, update workflows, and integration with remote repositories. We will also look at practical maintenance features such as refactoring support and improved error handling in the graphical IDE. The goal is to show how Eclipse 4diac can support engineers in evolving IEC 61499 systems more safely, making large automation projects easier to share, update, restructure, and maintain over time.

Michael Oberlehner is a software engineer and elected Eclipse 4diac committer working on maintainability and evolution of IEC 61499-based automation software. His doctoral research focuses on type management, refactoring, and modular library management for Eclipse 4diac. In his dissertation, he investigates how versioned type libraries, explicit dependencies, controlled updates, and repair-supported refactorings can make long-lived industrial automation systems easier to maintain. Parts of this research have been implemented and evaluated directly in the Eclipse 4diac IDE, turning the concepts into practical tooling for library management and model evolution. His work strengthens open, reusable, and vendor-independent automation engineering infrastructure for industry, research, and education.

Maintaining large control application with Eclipse 4diac IDE