Simulation Tool for Factory Numerical Device Control System Network Based on EPA protocol

Simulation is an indispensable technique to evaluate the performance of computer networks, because the continuous growth of network scale and diversity. In this paper, the modeling of EPA protocol in OPNET modeler, a simulation tool of control system network is developed. These configurable EPA protocol models allow to easily build Factory Numerical Device Control System (FNDCS) simulation with different network topologies for all kinds of discrete manufacturing factory, so that the dynamic performance issues could be studied during the planning stage and network performance problems could be caught ahead of the implementation stage. An example of using those models to a network of FDECS on OPNET Modeler as well as the network performance simulation results is also included in this paper.