Hierarchical Control in a Virtual Manufacturing Facility

Published

January 1, 1996

Author(s)

Michael Iuliano, Albert W. Jones

Abstract

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are developing a virtual manufacturing cell, which will facilitate standards development and testing. This cell will contain simulation models of a wide range of manufacturing equipment, processes, and systems. It will also have commercial and prototype applications software which implement production functions from order release to final inspection. Finally, there will be an information base which will provide the integrating infrastructure for these applications. Researchers are developing interfaces between the applications and the information base which provide the methods for creating, updating, inserting, and extracting the required information. These interfaces will be based on information models and exchange protocols, and will specify what information is shared across applications and how it is exchanged. This paper describes the current hardware and software in the cell, and the hierarchy we are developing to control activities within the cell.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the Fourth International Association of Science and Technology for Development (IASTED) Conference

Conference Title

Honolulu (HI)

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

control hierarchy, manufacturing, process planning, scheduling, simulation

Citation

Iuliano, M. and Jones, A. (1996), Hierarchical Control in a Virtual Manufacturing Facility, Proceedings of the Fourth International Association of Science and Technology for Development (IASTED) Conference (Accessed July 27, 2024)