Enhancing STEP-NC compliant CNC controller for distributed and reconfigurable environment in production line

STEP-NC compliant CNC machine tool controller in reconfigurable production line environment is considered. Reconfigurable control requirement and execution mechanism for production line makes it necessary to extend and enhance the current STEP-NC compliant CNC controller. Machining feature is specified as leading design clue and IEC 61499 distribute control mechanism is introduced for constructing design philosophy for CNC machine tool controller. Two necessarily enhancing factors are investigated, STEP-NC data model for product family and program for various variants in a particular configuration of production line, and Device model design for CNC machine tool compliant IEC 61499 mechanism. The proposed design philosophy can facilitate and realize CNC machine tool integrate well with networked and distributed production line manufacturing environment.