Communication and control in small batch part manufacturing

This paper reports on the development of a real-time control network as an integrated part of a shop floor control system for small batch part manufacturing. The shop floor control system is called the production control system (PCS). The PCS aims at an improved control of small batch part manufacturing systems, enabling both a more flexible use of resources and a decrease in the economical batch size. For this, the PCS integrates various control functions such as scheduling, dispatching, workstation control and monitoring, whilst being connected on-line to the production equipment on the shop floor. The PCS can be applied irrespective of the level of automation on the shop floor. The control network is an essential part of the PCS, as it provides a real-time connection between the different modules (computers) of the PCS, which are geographically distributed over the shop floor. An overview of the requirements of such a control network is given. The description of the design includes the services developed, the protocols used and the physical layout of the network. A prototype of the PCS, including the control network, has been installed and tested in a pilot plant. The control network has proven that it can supply a manufacturing environment, consisting of equipment from different vendors with different levels of automation, with a reliable, low cost, real-time communication facility

An Interactive and Efficient Voice Processing For Home Automation System

Home networking has evolved from linked personal computers to a more complex system that encompasses advanced security and automation applications. Once just reserved for high-end luxury homes, home networks are now a regular feature in residences. These networks allow users to consolidate heating, air conditioning, lighting, appliances, entertainment, intercom, telecommunication, surveillance and security systems into an easy-to-operate unified network. Interactive applications operated by voice recognition, for example integrated door security systems and the ability to control home appliances, are key features of home automation networks. This interactive capability depends on high-quality voice processing technology, including acoustic echo cancellation, low signal distortion and noise reduction techniques. A home automation system must also be scalable to allow future evolution, flexible to support field upgrades, interactive, easy-to-use, costefficient and reliable. This article introduces some of the voice quality performance issues and design challenges unique to home automation systems. It will discuss home automation network applications that rely on voice processing, and examine some of the critical features and functionality that can help ease design complexity and cost to deliver enhanced performance

Low Power Processor Architectures and Contemporary Techniques for Power Optimization – A Review

The technological evolution has increased the number of transistors for a given die area significantly and increased the switching speed from few MHz to GHz range. Such inversely proportional decline in size and boost in performance consequently demands shrinking of supply voltage and effective power dissipation in chips with millions of transistors. This has triggered substantial amount of research in power reduction techniques into almost every aspect of the chip and particularly the processor cores contained in the chip. This paper presents an overview of techniques for achieving the power efficiency mainly at the processor core level but also visits related domains such as buses and memories. There are various processor parameters and features such as supply voltage, clock frequency, cache and pipelining which can be optimized to reduce the power consumption of the processor. This paper discusses various ways in which these parameters can be optimized. Also, emerging power efficient processor architectures are overviewed and research activities are discussed which should help reader identify how these factors in a processor contribute to power consumption. Some of these concepts have been already established whereas others are still active research areas. © 2009 ACADEMY PUBLISHER

Multifaceted Faculty Network Design and Management: Practice and Experience Report

We report on our experience on multidimensional aspects of our faculty's network design and management, including some unique aspects such as campus-wide VLANs and ghosting, security and monitoring, switching and routing, and others. We outline a historical perspective on certain research, design, and development decisions and discuss the network topology, its scalability, and management in detail; the services our network provides, and its evolution. We overview the security aspects of the management as well as data management and automation and the use of the data by other members of the IT group in the faculty.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, TOC and index; a short version presented at C3S2E'11; v6: more proofreading, index, TOC, reference

A ROS2 based communication architecture for control in collaborative and intelligent automation systems

Collaborative robots are becoming part of intelligent automation systems in modern industry. Development and control of such systems differs from traditional automation methods and consequently leads to new challenges. Thankfully, Robot Operating System (ROS) provides a communication platform and a vast variety of tools and utilities that can aid that development. However, it is hard to use ROS in large-scale automation systems due to communication issues in a distributed setup, hence the development of ROS2. In this paper, a ROS2 based communication architecture is presented together with an industrial use-case of a collaborative and intelligent automation system.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, to be published in the proceedings of 29th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM2019), June 201

Britain's first computer centre for banking: What did this building do?

At the beginning of the 1960s Barclays became the first British bank to open a computer centre. In this paper I trace the life of this building starting with its official opening on 4 July 1961 and ending with its protracted closure a decade later. From initial status as the most advanced bank bookkeeping system in the world serving as a highly visible symbol of the bank's technological power, to a final repurposing of its grandiose reception as a distribution point for pre- and post-decimalisation output, the building's various meanings are revealed. Making use of written, oral, and visual sources I explore the centre's spatial characteristics, its relation to the distributed structure of the branch, and its place as a first dedicated working home for a newly emerging computing subculture. A blend of multiple perspectives internally from the top down and bottom up, and externally from customer and competitor, offer an analysis that uncovers the part played by the first computer centre place in the banking automation race

Importance and applications of robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) in railway maintenance sector: a review

Maintenance, which is critical for safe, reliable, quality, and cost-effective service, plays a dominant role in the railway industry. Therefore, this paper examines the importance and applications of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in railway maintenance. More than 70 research publications, which are either in practice or under investigation describing RAS developments in the railway maintenance, are analysed. It has been found that the majority of RAS developed are for rolling-stock maintenance, followed by railway track maintenance. Further, it has been found that there is growing interest and demand for robotics and autonomous systems in the railway maintenance sector, which is largely due to the increased competition, rapid expansion and ever-increasing expense

An intelligent framework and prototype for autonomous maintenance planning in the rail industry

This paper details the development of the AUTONOM project, a project that aims to provide an enterprise system tailored to the planning needs of the rail industry. AUTONOM extends research in novel sensing, scheduling, and decision-making strategies customised for the automated planning of maintenance activities within the rail industry. This paper sets out a framework and software prototype and details the current progress of the project. In the continuation of the AUTONOM project it is anticipated that the combination of techniques brought together in this work will be capable of addressing a wider range of problem types, offered by Network rail and organisations in different industries