RELIABLE OBJECT BASED ARCHITECTURE FOR INTELLIGENT CONTROLLERS (ROCS)

RELIABLE OBJECT-BASED CONTROL SOFTWARE (ROCS) ISA PROGRAMMING TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN BE COMBINED WITH BOTH INDUSTRIAL PROGRAMMABLE CONTROLLERS AND POWERFUL RISC BASED PROCESSORS TO CONSTRUCTFLEXIBLE CONTROL COMPONENTS OF GENERAL PURPOSE MACHINE TOOLS. ROCS ALSO SUPPORTS THE COMBINATION OF THOSE COMPONENTS INTO INNOVATIVE STATION, CELL, CENTER OR FACTORY AUTOMATION CONCEPTS. THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY WOULD PROVIDE A GENERIC CONTROL ARCHITECTURE THAT COULD BE CONFIGURED TO THE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS OF EACH SPECIALIZED MACHINE TOOLS. THE SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY ENVISIONED WOULD UTILIZE A "FROZEN" OBJECT APPROACH TO ACHIEVE A LEVEL OF SCALABILITY, FLEXIBILITY, RELIABILITY, AND MAINTAINABILITY CURRENTLY UNATTAINABLE IN PROCESS AUTOMATION. THE ELEMENTS OF THE ROCS SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY INCLUDE: 1) A SPECIALIZED OBJECT BASED LANGUAGE FOR PROGRAMMING DEVICE CONTROL; 2) A DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT WITH FACILITIES FOR INTERPRETATION, COMPILATION, AND TESTING OF CONTROL PROGRAMS WRITTEN IN THE LANGUAGE; 3) A STANDARD CONTROL ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK WITH THE NECESSARY GENERIC CONTROL OBJECT TYPES THAT COULD BE SPECIALIZED TO PROVIDE A LARGE VARIETY OF CONTROL BEHAVIORSOVER A WIDE RANGE OF DEVICES; 4) A CONFIGURATION ENVIRONMENT THAT WOULD SUPPORT THE SETTING OF THE PARAMETERS OF THE OBJECTS IN THE STANDARD CONTROL ARCHITECTURE AND WHICH WOULD THEN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE THECONTROL SOFTWARE FOR A SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION OF DEVICES. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - WITH ROCS, SPECIALIZEDMACHINE TOOL MANUFACTURING COSTS COULD BE REDUCED BY THE EFFECT OF VOLUME PRODUCTION ECONOMICS APPLIED TO THE PROGRAMMING, AS WELL AS THE CONTROL HARDWARE. THE MODULARITY OF THE RESULTING MACHINING SYSTEM WOULD ENSURE EASIER DIAGNOSIS OF FAULTS AND SELF DIAGNOSIS COULD BE BUILTIN. THE MODULARITY OF THE ARCHITECTURE AND ITS NATURE WOULD EASE THE ADDITION OF NEW DEVICES AND FUNCTIONALITY. THIS SYSTEM COULD SERVE AS THE FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVENTUAL