ATM networks allow multimedia in process control systems

Today, communication networks are growing in terms of size and speed, delivering hundreds of megabits to tens of gigabits per second. This large amount of bandwidth leads to the definition of new kinds of distributed applications introducing multimedia. Nevertheless, current computer architectures are not well suited to process these delay guaranteed and cumbersome flows. This paper particularly focuses on the factory plant case where multimedia equipments could soon be integrated in the control of manufacturing processes. First, a novel real time distributed architecture based on a 155 Mbit/s ATM network is introduced. The main features of the communication board are an embedded ATM switch, and a processor coupled with a programmable gate array in order to provide efficient high level communication protocols. Then, a MMS-like multimedia application service element for integrated manufacturing services is introduced. It takes advantage of the particular architecture of the network interface board.