Architecture Design of Reconfigurable Protocol Stack for nodes in NCS

One of the fastest growing market segments among industrial automation is the design of intelligent node device in networked control systems (NCS). Nowadays, because the property of network protocols embedded in devices are from different makers, a heterogeneous system is hard to be interoperable and cost-effective. In this paper, we introduce architecture of reconfigurable protocol stack for nodes in NCS, with OSI layered protocol model that has many advantages in heterogeneous network design: modularity, flexibility, ease of integration, etc. We overview the existing reconfiguration technology, present the process of protocol stack reconfiguration for industrial communication and develop a test bed to examine our real time and non-real time performance.