Device and method for automatic calculation of measurement confidence in flexible modular plants and machines

A method for providing output values with associated uncertainties for a flexible modular plant or machine comprising an arrangement of modular entities, the method comprising:

• combining a plurality of said modular entities into an arrangement during runtime of the flexible modular plant or machine, the arrangement describing how the modular entities are interconnected;
• assigning uncertainty information associated with an operation of a modular entity to the plurality of said modular entities;
• providing, by said plurality of modular entities, input values based on an operation of said modular entities;
• calculating, by a computing unit, depending on the arrangement of the plurality of modular entities, an output value based on said input values provided by said plurality of modular entities;
• calculating, by said computing unit, an input value uncertainty for each input value based on the uncertainty information of the modular entity providing the input value;
• calculating, by said computing unit, depending on the arrangement of the plurality of said modular entities, at least one output value uncertainty associated with the output value based on propagation of uncertainty and using the input value uncertainties;
• outputting said output value and said at least one output value uncertainty;
• modifying the combined plurality of said modular entities of the arrangement during runtime of the flexible modular plant or machine based on the output value and said at least one output value uncertainty;
• and
• providing at least one calculation tree describing how said output value is calculated based on said input values;
• wherein, if a plurality of different calculation trees is provided for calculating the output value, corresponding to different ways to calculate said output value, then an optimal calculation tree is determined which results in a lowest output value uncertainty.