Conception and Implementation of an Object Request Broker for the Integration of the Process Level in Manufacturing Systems

Abstract

In order to be able to react quickly to altering production states, planning tools such as Manufacturing Resource Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning heavily rely on up to date information about the process itself. Thus, access to process level data is one of the most important issues within the production industry. However, the process level lacks support for open, connective communication systems as the number of incompatible fieldbus systems shows. Current solutions, e.g., OLE for Process Control, only focus on a unified interface to the process level, but do not allow to access the functionality of a field device directly. The approach presented in this paper introduces FIMO, the Fieldbus Messaging Object Request Broker, to be deployed in field devices and utilizing the existing fieldbus protocols. With the use of FIMO, devices connected to a fieldbus can be seamlessly integrated in the whole manufacturing hierarchy. The paper gives a brief overview of thestate of the art for accessing process level data. Then, the FIMO architecture is presented in detail including its core services and the mapping of the communication services to the underlying fieldbus system.