Evaluation of component-based reconfigurable machine controllers

The lack of interoperability and integration standards is severely hindering manufacturing productivity. To address this problem, a general motion control (GMC) testbed has been developed at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with one of its goals to validate the open modular architecture controller (OMAC) interface specification for reconfigurable, plug-and-play open-architecture controllers. The GMC validation testbed was built using Microsoft component object model (COM) components. This paper reviews software programming issues and the use of Microsoft COM in the development of machine control components. Strategies and tests of COM programming for a controller are discussed.