A service-oriented reconfigurable process monitoring system - enabling cyber physical systems

Communication is an essential requirement for collaborative manufacturing systems. However the diversity of communication media and protocols in machine tools, automation equipment, and associated proprietary software, presents a challenge for enabling capable, extensible and re-configurable process monitoring systems. Additionally, as process control systems evolve from centralised hierarchical structures to decentralised heterarchical communities, enabling media and tools are required to provide interoperability between systems and subsystems. The focus of this research is to introduce a manufacturing decentralised process monitoring architecture that utilises a service-oriented architecture framework for network-wide dynamic data acquisition and distribution. The system design is created using a combination of service-oriented architecture topology and technical modelling. Service-oriented communication structure and capability is given particular focus, resulting in a comparative study of message structures and communication speeds. The resultant system is modular in structure, reconfigurable, network-distributable, interoperable, efficient, and meets real-time requirements.