Client/Server-based Concurrent Generic Equipment Emulator

An equipment emulator (EM) is a program implementation that mimics: (i) internally, the underlying dynamic features of a target equipment, as well as (ii) externally, the input/output streams at the equipment interface observed from outside. In practical supervisory control applications, an EM serves as a flexible and inexpensive replacement of the intended equipment for scheduling policy design, equipment controller design, and communication link establishment verification. A new design scheme aiming at simplifying the design and implementing several equipment emulators is presented: Client/Server based Concurrent Generic Emulator (CCGEE). As opposed to repeatedly implementing an EM program for each piece of equipment, CCGEE effectively reduces design repetition by separating (i) the common working mechanism: command message reception, command execution, results replying, and the like, shared by all equipment, from (ii) the equipment unique characteristics: messages recognized, methods of implementing instruction execution, formats of the underlined communication protocols, and so forth, of a particular equipment.