Nobody agreed the interpretation
Which version, which optional fields, which actions, how errors are reported and what a factsheet has to declare. Left open, each party assumes its own answer.
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Consulting · VDA5050VDA5050 consulting for AGV and AMR integration
For projects in which vehicles from one or several manufacturers have to run under one fleet controller. I help with the interface between them: agreeing how the specification is read, testing the connection, clarifying faults and accepting the result, with evidence both sides can check.
Starting point
Both sides comply with VDA5050. The vehicle still stops.
The specification defines the messages, not every behaviour behind them. Where it leaves room, each vehicle manufacturer and each fleet-controller vendor fills it in their own way. Those differences don't show up in the tender. They show up on site, during commissioning, when a vehicle stops at a node and every log says its owner did the right thing.
More than one version on the same site
VDA5050 1.1, 2.0.0, 2.1.0 and 3.0 renamed fields, moved sections and added concepts. A mixed fleet carries several of them at once, and the fleet controller has to speak all of them.
Faults fall between the parties
Vehicle manufacturer, fleet-controller vendor and operator each see their own side of the traffic. Without a joint recording there is no shared fact, only three opinions.
What you gain
An interface that's agreed before it's built, and proven before it's accepted
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One reading of the specification
Version, optional features, actions and error handling agreed in writing between vehicle manufacturer and fleet-controller vendor, before the first vehicle arrives.
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Faults narrowed down to message and field
A recording of the MQTT traffic, analysed against the specification. The finding names the message, the field and what the specification says. That ends the discussion about whose side it's on.
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An acceptance both sides can check
A test plan for the interface, run on your site, with a report that shows what was tested and what was found.
Deliverables
What you receive
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Interface review
Vehicles, fleet controller, versions, factsheets and layout read against the specification. Where the setup will conflict, before it does.
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Requirement profile
A written agreement on how VDA5050 is used in this project: version, mandatory and optional fields, supported actions, error reporting, factsheet content and the LIF layout the fleet controller works from.
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Tender wording
The VDA5050 section of a functional tender for vehicles or a fleet controller, precise enough that proposals can be compared and the interface can be accepted against it.
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Commissioning support
On site or remote while the vehicles are connected. Recordings of the traffic, deviations clarified with both vendors, open items tracked to closure.
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Fault analysis
A recording from your installation analysed against the specification, with a finding per deviation and a recommendation for whoever has to fix it.
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Acceptance of the interface
A test plan for the interface, the runs on your site and the report that closes the topic.
Approach and collaboration
From the setup to an accepted interface
Engaged for a single step or for the whole path. The earlier the interpretation is agreed, the less there is to clarify on site.
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Read the setup
Which vehicles, which fleet controller, which versions, which layout. The factsheets and the LIF file are the first documents I ask for.
Step 1 -
Agree the interpretation
The requirement profile, worked out with the vehicle manufacturer and the fleet-controller vendor and signed off by both.
Step 2 -
Test and record
The connection driven through planned orders, the traffic recorded and every deviation traced to message and field.
Step 3 -
Accept and hand over
The acceptance report, the open items with owners, and a recording your team can return to when something changes.
Step 4
Where this comes from
The specification, read field by field
LogistiXpert develops the LogIQ VDA5050 Analyzer, a software product that checks VDA5050 traffic against the specification. Building it meant reading every version of the specification and its schemas down to the field. The errors we found in the official documents and schemas are reported to the VDA5050 project on GitHub and published on the documents page.
Independent of the vendors
No ties to vehicle manufacturers or fleet-controller vendors. The specification is the reference, not either party's implementation.
The Analyzer is my product
I use it in these mandates, because it does the work of reading a recording. Whether your project licenses it is your decision. The consulting doesn't depend on it.
Beyond VDA5050
The VDMA LIF layout the fleet controller works from, and the M2X interface to doors, lifts and charging stations, belong to the same integration and are covered in the same way.
VDA5050 consulting
A VDA5050 integration ahead of you, or one that's stuck?
A recording of the traffic and the factsheets are enough for a first assessment. The first conversation costs nothing.
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