Abstract
DDS is a recent specification aimed at providing high-performance publisher/subscriber middleware solutions. Despite being a very powerful flexible technology, it may prove complex to use, especially for the inexperienced. This work provides some guidelines for connecting software components that represent a new generation of automation devices (such as PLCs, IPCs and robots) using Data Distribution Service (DDS) as a virtual software bus. More specifically, it presents the design of a DDS-based component, the so-called Automation Component, and discusses how to map different traffic patterns using DDS entities exploiting the wealth of QoS management mechanisms provided by the DDS specification. A case study demonstrates the creation of factory automation applications out of software components that encapsulate independent stations.
Highlights
Today’s factory automation applications are growing in size and complexity
Even though Data Distribution Service (DDS) allows a large number of Quality of Service (QoS) policies to be configured, the authors have tried to simplify the configuration of the middleware by focusing only on those considered most relevant in factory automation applications
Every physical device is encapsulated by means of a generic software component, the so‐called Automation Component, capable of accessing information (Topics in DDS terminology) from the virtual bus
Summary
Today’s factory automation applications are growing in size and complexity. In modern factory automation applications, industrial devices such as robots, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and Industrial PCs (IPCs) are changing from preprogrammed, stationary systems into machines capable of modifying their behaviour, based on interactions with the environment and other devices. Another driving force in factory automation results from the adoption of more powerful computing platforms by most industrial device vendors. This paper fills the gap by providing some guidelines and abstractions to use DDS as a virtual software bus in the control layer for a new generation of factory automation devices (PLCs, IPCs and robots). This work presents the generic architecture of a DDS‐based component capable of providing QoS communication requirements in factory automation applications It identifies different types of traffic patterns among the controllers and maps them over DDS entities exploiting its wealth of mechanisms for QoS management.
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