"Today's Solution for Real Time Computer Integration of Multi-vendor Industrial Equipment"
D.F. Irwin-Houston, C.M. Witkowski and F. Magalhaes
Proc. Advanced Seminar on Real-time Local Area Networks, INRIA, Bandol, France,
16-18 April 1986, pp.265-276
ABSTRACT
Today's industrial user realises that it is only through full computer integration that he can achieve the administrative expediency, flexibility, reliability, and productivity expected of the factories of tomorrow. It will be shown that the MAP specification is a future solution for most users, It will also be suggested that since MAP will become a world-wide standard, it will gain too much inertia to respond to the changing requirements of communications in the constantly developing field of industrial automation and control. It is with these limitations in mind that a modular and low cost method for networking both future and existing industrial machinery has been developed. The 'Secondary Adapter' solution is described, and an example of its use in the FMS context is presented.