The Enhanced Machine Controller


EMC Consortium
EMC Testbeds
The NIST RCS Methodology
EMC Software
References
Glossary

What is the Enhanced Machine Controller?

The Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) program is a NIST effort to develop and validate a specification for interfaces to open architecture controllers. This specification is being developed jointly with the Department of Energy Technologies Enabling Agile Manufacturing (TEAM) program. The specification is formally defined in the C++ language, and consists of C++ header files forming an Application Programming Interface (API) suitable for programmers. These header files are referred to as the TEAM APIs.

The EMC is part of a broader industry group, the Open Modular Architecture Controller. The purpose of the group is to establish a specific set of APIs to be used by vendors to sell controller products and services to the aerospace and automotive industry. EMC participation is focused on validating the APIs and developing measures of conformance.

An EMC Consortium has been established, focused on developing and validating the TEAM APIs in real-world applications. Consortium members include representatives from the end-user, controls provider, and technology provider communities. Membership responsibilities include reviewing the interface specification, recommending applications that can be used to test open architecture controller concepts. Members may also become involved in actual controller installations. The consortium will be active from January 1, 1996, through December 31, 1998. There is no cost for participation.

Several controllers have been installed on testbeds for the purpose of validating that the APIs work in real-world application. A second purpose for these testbeds is to further the NIST Real-time Control System methodology. In these testbeds, controllers conforming to the TEAM APIs have been built which also have been developed following the RCS methodology.

What does "Open Architecture" mean?

There has been considerable debate on what precisely "open architecture" means, particularly with respect to machine controllers. Openness is often described in terms of the "-ilities": modularity, portability, interoperability, scaleability, and extensibility (see the Glossary). The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) defines the following terms [1]: The Next Generation Controller (NGC) Specifications for an Open System Architecture Standard (SOSAS) [2] augments this with a definition of The TEAM APIs are an open system API for machine controllers, including machine tools, robots, and coordinate measuring machines. The TEAM APIs, together with a collection of services sometimes called the infrastructure or common execution environment, form an open system environment for machine control. The purpose of the EMC program is to develop and validate this open system environment, based on real-world implementations in shop floor environments, together with a consortium of users, vendors, and technology providers.
Contact:
Fred Proctor
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Building 220, Room B127
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001

E-mail: frederick.proctor@nist.gov
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FAX: 301-990-9688

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