A distributed field message controller for intelligent conveyor systems

In this paper, a new distributed and flexible field message control system (FMCS) is presented. The FMCS utilizes the Intel bitbus implementation of fieldbus to provide a user friendly and object based methodology for the definition and control of intelligent conveyor systems. The FMCS is easily integrated with other system components/machines by providing an additional control messaging scheme, which allows better communication between devices. A case study is presented where the FMCS works cooperatively with a colour Petri-net based cell controller for the real-time control of an experimental flexible assembly system.