A Diagnostic Emulator for HEAO software development

In order to solve the problem that it is difficult to achieve better multi-robot coordination operation using the original control system in multi-robot cooperative systems, this paper conducts system modeling, control framework design and software development and verification experiments for multi-robot cooperative systems. We firstly model the system composed of multiple robots and operated objects. The coordination between any two robots can be divided into two categories: loose coordination and tight coordination according to the constraint relationship between the robots and the objects, based on which the kinematics and dynamics analysis of the multi-robot system is carried out. A multi-robot cooperative control framework is designed, which contains modules for task planning, force and position assignment, sensor information acquisition, position/force control and synchronization clock. On the basis of the multi-robot cooperative control system, the robot cooperative control software is designed and developed, and the software system contains, with excellent characteristics. Finally, an experimental environment containing three large-load EFORT industrial robots was established and experiments were conducted using the developed multi-robot cooperative control software to verify the usability and reliability of the software system.

The present study describes the development of control hardware and software for a mobile welding robot. This robot is able to move and perform welding tasks in a double hull structure. The control hardware consists of a main controller and a welding machine controller. Control software consists of four layers. Each layer consists of modules. Suitable combinations of modules enable the control software to perform the required tasks. Control software is developed using C programming under QNX operating system. For the modularizing architecture of control software, we designed control software with four layers: Task Manager, Task Planner, Actions for Task, and Task Executer. The embedded controller and control software was applied to the mobile welding robot for successful execution of the required tasks. For evaluate this imbedded controller and control software, the field tests are conducted, it is confirmed that the developed imbedded controller of mobile welding robot for shipyard is well designed and implemented.

Software metrics are measures of software. Their primary use is to help us plan and predict software development. We can better control software quality and development effort if we can quantify the software. This is especially true in the early stages of development. Research has been done in the area of predicting software maintenance effort from software metrics. In general, software metrics can be classified into two categories: software product metrics and software process metrics. Software product metrics are measures of software products such as source code and design documents. Software process metrics are measures of software development process. For example, the size of the software is a measure of the software product itself, thus a product metrics. The effort required to design a software system may be influenced by how the software is designed, thus a process metrics. In this article, only software product metrics are addressed.

Nowadays due to the technology development and use of digital computers in various systems, need for development of high performance and robust software is attracting great attentions. Because of increasing complexity in algorithms and implementation hardware for embedded systems, proper simulation tools are required. In sophisticated systems design, hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation is known as a prominent simulation tool before realistic tests of the system and a step after software simulation. Simultaneously it can be used for verification and validation of automation and control software. HIL has had an historical background in aerospace industries. Recently, this tool has spread in different steps of system life cycle such as design, development, implementation and test of various applications including automobile industry, shipbuilding, power lines, robotic systems and etc. Utilizing a suitable hardware in the loop laboratory, in system design stages is a practical way to increase the system reliability and efficiency as well as value of product. Also, by proper investigation in this modelling and simulation method, many errors can be avoided in design procedure of software and hardware as well as their interconnections. In this study, structure and components of an hardware in the loop laboratory for different systems are explored, also it is tried to more evaluate the applications of HIL simulations in dynamics and control engineering. At last, general structure of an hardware in the loop lab for diverse industries is proposed and discussed.

With the growing adoption of Industry 4.0 concepts in production systems, new challenges arise in engineering control software. Highly distributed control with tight real-time constraints and safety regulations results in increasingly complex software. Current research focuses on increasing the abstraction with new architectures and modularization of software. The presented PhD research addresses modeling of the interactions between control software components, and of the emergent behavior of these compositions. Such behavior models can support the initial implementation, and facilitate (semi-)automated testing and monitoring of control software. Finally, visualizing behavior in a model can enhance understandability of existing control software, when software developers need not access abstracted hierarchy levels to deduct their functionality. This work aims at optimizing the benefit of behavior models in developing control software: Modeling the expected behavior directly for new software will allow using them throughout the software life-cycle. For legacy software, the initial development effort of behavior models will be minimized by automatically capturing behavior models from the implementation. The approach is evaluated in case studies and user studies to integrate experiences from the industrial domain into this software engineering research.

A development framework for supervisory control software of automated manufacturing systems

A metamodeling approach for safe control software

A three-step approach is proposed to substantially reduce the high cost of development of control software for an FMS on the shop floor. First, by introducing the concept of multiple computing processes into Automata Theory, a finite capacity machine (FCM) is presented as an extended finite machine. An FCM is used to model the control of a flexible manufacturing system, which avoids the state explosion problem. Secondly, a structured adaptive supervisory control (SASC) model meeting the desired control objectives for an FMS is derived from a composed FCM. The SASC model can be constructed systematically. Finally, generic software components for an SASC model are described, which allow the SASC model to be cost-effectively transferred into shop-floor applicable control software.

Estimation of Software Development Effort from Requirements Based Complexity

In a smart energy system, power converters should be controlled by complex control software. However the efficient development of reliable control software is difficult. We have proposed to introduce a “model-based design” process using MATLAB/Simulink, established in the automotive and aerospace fields, to the development of power electronics systems. However, it was difficult in the past because calculating switching circuit as the plant model is difficult in MATLAB/Simulink due to the socalled stiff equation problem. Thus, in this study, we have developed a simulation environment in which the standard model-based design tool, MATLAB/Simulink, and the simulation engine for power switching circuits, SCALE, work cooperatively. SCALE was originally developed to solve stiff equation and efficiently simulate power switching circuits. This software environment enables us to design control algorithms with intuitive block diagram expression and test them in actual hardware, without writing a C program. Furthermore to improve this environment, a mechanism that handles the multiple sample rates was introduced. Smart energy systems that use several controllers with different sampling rates can be simulated in the proposed environment. Thus, we can develop control software for smart energy systems in a timely and cost effective manner.

Control software in the automated production systems domain is becoming increasingly complex. As a consequence, appropriate methods to improve control software quality need to be identified. Although sophisticated frameworks and tools for software quality improvement exist in the computer science domain, support for industrial control software development is still limited. As a first step towards addressing this issue, this paper proposes an analysis framework that aims at evaluating control software by means of Semantic Web technologies.

Space Integrated Controls Experiment (SPICE)

Motivated by the demand for Petri net software tools for control of discrete event systems,a Petri net-based discrete event simulation and control software tool is designed and developed.By analyzing the requirements of discrete event simulation and control,the main functions and objectives of the software tool are established.The architecture of software tool is designed accordingly.Subsequently,several key techniques for the software development are researched including proposing of control Petri nets together with design of their basic classes,save and read of Petri net models,Petri net-based simulation and control,and networked software construction in the Client/Server mode.Finally,the Petri net-based discrete event simulation and control software tool is developed,which not only possesses the functions of Petri net modeling and analysis,but also is capable of implementing Petri net-based control and simulation of discrete event systems through networks.Application result of the software tool on a reconfigurable machining system test-bed shows that the software tool is valid and practical.

This paper describes an empirical study to reveal factors influencing defect correction effort in software development. In the study we collected various attributes (metrics) of defects found in a typical medium-scale, multi-vendor information system development project in Japan over a six-month period. We then statistically analyzed the relationship between the defects' attributes and the correction effort. The analysis confirmed the well-known principle “defects are the more expensive the later they are detected” by revealing that defects detected in the “system test” were 4.88 times more expensive than those detected in the “coding/unit test”. Another principle “defects are more expensive the longer they survive in software” was also confirmed by revealing that defects, which survived two or more development phases, were 4.44 times more expensive than those detected immediately. We also identified other factors, such as defect reproducibility, severity, and the cause of detection delay, that had a significant influence on the correction effort.

The Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) being implemented at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) involves the development of a software system integrating the various information processing, communications and data storage functions required in a totally automated manufacturing environment. The project contains a five year software development effort by more than thirty research staff organizationally partitioned into many units working concurrently on different parts of the system and supplemented by software acquired through procurement or contractual effort. As the facility is implemented in modular blocks, new software development will be undertaken as research into factory automation technology continues. The Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) being implemented at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) involves the development of a software system integrating the various information processing, communications and data storage functions required in a totally automated manufacturing environment. The project contains a five year software development effort by more than thirty research staff organizationally partitioned into many units working concurrently on different parts of the system and supplemented by software acquired through procurement or contractual effort. As the facility is implemented in modular blocks, new software development will be undertaken as research into factory automation technology continues.In such a research environment, a system is needed for maintaining documentation for the software life cycle for the following purposes: (1) tracking progress of individual module development, (2) allowing for the availability of up-to-date information on module description to other members of the project who need to interface to a given module, (3) developing a cross reference of module and data element relationships, (4) providing a documentation format that includes specific reporting requirements to upper level management, and (5) generating working level documentation that can be easily modified and serve as an up-to-date reference for anyone with interest in the project or special subproject.This paper describes the structure of a software system that is functioning in a research environment and satisfies the following design constraints: (I) provide minimum additional effort on the part of the system developers, and (2) reflect the structured thinking of the developer during the software life cycle.The key to such a management system is the early documentation of the system modules identified through a decomposition of all functions from the integrated system down to the lowest level subroutines. Each component module of the system has a group of seven documents to track it through the life cycle. The decomposition provides each developer with an understanding of where his module fits into the overall system and permits module documentation to be produced that can be limited to just a few pages. The documenter is encouraged to enter information as it becomes known so that the system always reflects the latest status of the research effort.The automated system is being developed as an on-line interactive menu-driven system that allows the developer to enter information about his modules. The final system version will be capable of the following functions: (1) full-screen editing, (2) menu driven interface between the user and the system, (3) cross referencing between module and data elements, (4) generation of reports, (5) generation of work schedules, (6) monitoring of system milestones, (7) checking for appropriate information, and (8) managing a data element dictionary.