Image Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Systems that integrate
legacy systems
, which cannot be extended or changed due to legal
or closed system issues. hus, the unchanged legacy system is integrated as a subsystem
into a network establishing a larger overall system.
•
Complexity management by dividing the overall applications into several subsystems
with separate hardware and software.
Having a distributed network of embedded devices, however, also comes with increased complexity
for typical configuration and management tasks such as system setup, diagnosis, repair, monitor-
ing, calibration, change, etc. In order to handle this complexity, computer-automated mechanisms
can perform tasks like registering new devices, auto-configuring data flow, detecting configuration
mismatches, etc.
In this chapter, we look at the state-of-the-art mechanisms for handling these tasks. A considerable
number of mature solutions for configuration and management exist in the context of fieldbus sys-
tems. A fieldbus system is a network for industrial manufacturing plants. It thus instruments fieldbus
nodes with sensors, actuators, valves, console lights, switches, and contactors. Challenges for fieldbus
systems are interoperability, real-time communication, robustness, and support for management and
coniguration. hus, fieldbus systems have evolved a set of interesting concepts for supporting setup,
configuration, monitoring, and maintenance of embedded devices connected to a fieldbus. Twenty
years ago, a typical process automation plant consisted of various field devices from half a dozen ven-
dors. Each device had its own setup program with different syntax for the same semantics. he data
from the devices often differed in the data formats and the routines to interface each device []. Since
that time, a lot of fieldbus configuration and management methods have been devised.
This chapter is organized as follows: Section . gives a definition to the concepts and terms in the
context of configuration and management of networked embedded systems. Section . investigates
the requirements imposed on configuration and management tasks. Section . analyzes the nec-
essary interfaces of an intelligent device and proposes a meaningful distinction of interface types.
Section . discusses profiles and other representation mechanisms of system properties for several
fieldbus systems. Section . gives an overview of application development methods and their impli-
cations for configuration and management of fieldbus networks. Section . examines the initial
setup of a system in terms of hardware and software configuration. Section . deals with approaches
for the management of fieldbus systems, such as application download, diagnosis, and calibration of
devices. Section . presents maintenance methods for reconfiguration, repair, and reintegration of
networked devices. Section . concludes this overview.
22.2 Concepts and Terms
The purpose of this section is to introduce and define some important concepts and terms that are
used throughout this chapter.
22.2.1 Configuration versus Management
he term
coniguration
isusedforawiderangeofactions.Partoftheconigurationdealswithsetting
up the hardware infrastructure of a fieldbus network and its nodes, i.e., physically connecting nodes
(cabling) and configuring (e.g., by using switches, jumpers) nodes in a network. On the other hand,
configuration also involves setting up the network on the logical (i.e., software) level. Therefore, a
particular coniguration mechanism often depends on the network issues like topology or underlying
communication paradigm. For example, the time-triggered protocol (TTP)-Tools [] are designed for
the time-triggered architecture []. [].Thus, they provide various design and coniguration mechanisms
for engineering-dependable real-time systems, but it is assumed that the system is based on a time-
triggered paradigm [].
