Integration of Embedded Devices Through Web Services: Requirements, Challenges and Early Results

Integration of the currently available computing systems and platforms is one of the most important goals envisaged by computer scientists, which starts to become a reality nowadays. System integration technologies, such as Web Services, can provide a middleware for allowing systems that were originally independent to work cooperatively. This technology is being employed successfully for the integration of business software, allowing the interaction between systems hosted by different companies. Despite the high level of integration achieved in business to business interactions, the same integration is not always obtained at different levels within a corporation. The factory floor is an important example of lack of system integration. At this environment, several independent devices and communication systems coexist, and their integration often relies on customized solutions. Our goal in this paper is to investigate the adequacy of Web Services for the integration of the numerous devices that are found in a manufacturing cell in order to make these devices more easily reconfigurable and able to adapt themselves to changes in the production environment. This will be achieved by evaluating the support provided by a typical embedded platform and therefore identifying any limitation for its integration with other devices. Along the paper, we also propose changes in the firmware of these devices in order to allow their integration through the use of Web Services.