Remote fieldbus system management with Java and XML

This paper introduces CANINSIGHT which was developed to create a device and platform independent fieldbus management system for highly distributed enterprises. System data are represented as XML documents which are instances of the CANopen Markup Language (CoML). CoML is an XML application for Controller Area Network (CAN) device profiles, setup information, and process data. The system uses a CoML-based Java client/server architecture to access arbitrary CANopen fieldbus devices via the Internet. The CANINSIGHT client, realized as a Java applet, provides convenient, interactive access to CANopen automation systems at remote locations. The CoML documents which are used for the client/server communication can also be exported to remote database systems and form a central process information repository for an entire manufacturing enterprise. It is possible to use standard database clients to request specific CoML information which can be processed either by dedicated CoML tools or a wide variety of general purpose XML tools.