Ubiquitous-based mobile control and monitoring of CNC machines for development of u-machine

Abstract

This study was an attempt to control and monitor Computerized Numerical Controller (CNC) machines anywhere and anytime for the development of a ubiquitous machine (u-machine). With a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) phone, the machine status and machining data of CNC machines can be monitored in wired and wireless environments, including the environments of IMT2000 and Wireless LAN. Moreover, CNC machines can be controlled anywhere and anytime. The concept of the anywhere-anytime controlling and monitoring of a manufacturing system was implemented in this study for the purpose of u-manufacturing and u-machines. In this concept, the communication between the CNC controller and the PDA phone was successfully performed anywhere and anytime for the real-time monitoring and control of CNC machines. In addition, the interface between the CNC controller and the developed application module was implemented by Object linking and embedding for Process Control (OPC) and shared CNC memory. For communication, the design of a server contents module within the target CNC was based on a TCP/IP. Furthermore, the client contents module within the PDA phone was designed with the aid of embedded c++ programming for mobile communication. For the interface, the monitoring data, such as the machine status, the machine running state, the name of the Numerical Control (NC) program, the alarm and the position of the stage axes, were acquired in real time from real machines with the aid of the OPC method and by sharing the CNC memory. The control data, such as the start, hold, emergency stop, reserved start and reserved stop, were also applied to the CNC domain of the real machine. CNC machines can therefore be controlled and monitored in real time, anywhere and anytime. Moreover, prompt notification from CNC machines to mobile phones, including cellular phones and PDA phones, can be automatically realized in emergencies.