An innovative software architecture to improve information flow from CAM to CNC

Over the years, machine tool evolution has allowed faster equipment, using new configurations, to manufacture parts that were almost impossible to machine in the past. Despite this tremendous evolution in machine and control technologies, the metalworking industry is still using the old ISO 6983 G-Codes programming interface to control the motion of these machines. This programming interface is not the most flexible or most appropriate for use by new open-architecture machine controllers and object-oriented high-level machining interfaces such as ISO 14649 (STEP-NC). This work proposes an innovative language, the ‘Base Numerical Control Language (BNCL),’ which is based on a low-level simple instruction set-like approach. The architecture is designed around two concepts: the BNCL virtual machine, which acts as a virtual microprocessor, and the BNCL virtual hardware, which is an abstraction of the machine tool. The language is characterised by its simplicity and flexibility, two qualities that are critical in a market in which the capabilities and performance of machines are constantly improving. The proposed architectural concepts are validated through various computer simulation and physical tests, including performance throughput, trajectory driving, and CNC controller extension capabilities.